CA2623786A1 - Method for lottery corporations to run online gaming - Google Patents

Abstract

A method that allows lottery corporations the ability to easily allow players to participate in online games played over the Internet, TV, or mobile phone by allowing players the ability to purchase entry into online games, such as a Texas Holdem poker tournament, from any Point Of Sale (POS), or Lottery Terminal, say found in a convenience store likely in the form of a printed or pre-printed ticket with some activation coding identifying each ticket as unique. Participants would access locations where games are held, say the Internet, enter a game of their choice using the unique activation code on their ticket, participate in said game and possibly win money or prizes through participation. Players may then take their tickets back to a retailer, any POS or Lottery Terminal and have their ticket Validated and could then collect winnings in the form of cash or other prizes, depending on the game offered.

Description

Method For Lottery Corporations To Run Online Gaming FIELD OF TITE INVENTION

The application relates in general to methods and systems allowing lottery corporations to operate online Internet gaming. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process allowing players to buy special tickets at a lottery terminal and go on the Internet and join a game or tournament using information on their ticket. Players who win prizes would then be able to send in their tickets to the prize offices or simply return to any participating retailer and claim their prize.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are numerous ways people gamble their money. In more recent times the more unfriendly word "Gamble" has been replaced with less negative terms such as "Gaming".

Regardless of what you call it, people have been spending money in hopes of winning more long before such things as patents even existed.

In modern times some of the more popular forms of gaming involve casinos, sports betting, lotteries, and the online Internet casinos and poker rooms. The present invention is going to concentrate mainly on those latter forms of gaming, Lotteries and Internet gaming.

Throughout the industrialized world many governments run the Lotteries within their countries. The part of the government over seeing the lotteries is usually called the lottery commission or corporation. Sometimes even within the same country there are more then one corporation. For instance in Canada there are five separate corporations and in the United States there is almost a separate lottery corporation for each State. These corporations offer a variety of games ranging from the operation of casinos, Internet games, sport wagering, pre-printed scratch tickets and progressive jackpot tickets usually sold from their lottery terminals, such as Powerball, Lotto 6/49 and Mega Millions.

With the invention of the Internet came the invention of a new form of gaming, online gaming or Internet gaming. The most popular of these forms appear now to be the online poker rooms like Poker Stars, Party Poker, Poker, Paradise Poker and so forth with a long list of com's and other extensions that exist on the Internet. Of course this is to take nothing away from the online world or sports betting, fantasy sports, and online casinos that offer most any game land based casinos offer, but right from the luxury of your own very home.

Player's playing online has reached a record high as is easily to see by the number of players qualifying for such prestigious tournaments like the World Series Of Poker (WSOP), a Texas Holdem tournament held each year on Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2003 there were 839 entrants in the WSOP main event in Las Vegas. Within three years, 8,773 players entered the $10,000 tournament and competed for a top prize of $12,000,000 in 2006. The majority of these players won their qualifying seat online, including three of the most recent online winners of the entire tournament.

Although there seems to be no end in sight to the Internet's popularity and growth not everyone is happy. The United States Justice Department has discouraged people in North America to play in these games by making it extremely difficult for North American's to open accounts, wire money in the form of transactions, visas and so forth. This has caused many would be players to be discouraged and just not participate. In turn the World Courts have listened to court cases where certain countries that currently allow the hosting and operating of these Internet Casinos and Poker to exist, think the actions taken by the U.S.
governments are illegal in themselves. It would come as no surprise that governments within the same country are all over the board on how to handle this situations. Some politicians are dead set against any form of online gaming, while others thing it should be regulated, so it can be monitored and taxed and others still think the government has no right in either of the previous two sides and people should be allowed to spend their money as they see fit. One embodiment of the current invention is a method and solution for politicians to come to agreement and to not only satisfy online players who are currently discouraged, but also create many new players who will now play.

One online poker room, Party Poker stated that they made almost $1 billion in revenue in 2005 and again in 2006. This is only one online poker room. At any one time of the day, over 100,000 players play online at another site called Poker Stars. Collectively speaking, there are billions of dollars being gambled online, in many different forms. Clearly it can be argued that the biggest reason governments oppose online gaming is they simply are upset they are losing so much money and the solution to stop this from happening seems like draining the ocean with a small tin cup. It is however one goal of the present invention to stop money from leaving countries bound for the operators of these online casinos and poker sites and keep that money in the hands of the governments within each country.

Yet another problem is regulation of the Internet in itself. How can one control something like the Internet which appears to have no boundaries or divisions?
The Internet makes it easy to do business with sites set up anywhere in the world. When we relate this to Internet gaming, how do you regulate a poker site that rests within a country with completely different laws and regulations? It is however another goal of the present invention to place boundaries on the Internet allowing corporations to retain money currently being spend in other countries of the world and stop money from leaving any specific country or bound for the operators of these online casinos and poker sites.

One of the biggest problems facing the online world is player's lack of trust for the operators of these games and sites. Spending millions of dollars in advertising has helped the online sites compete and build confidence amongst players and this is shown by their rising profits. It is a goal of the present invention to allow players to overcome their fear and trust issues in allowing local governments, namely lottery commissions to operate these games locally as they do their other current lotteries.

The need clearly remains for an efficient lottery gaming system that overcomes all the faults as they currently exist, allowing players to easily participate in playing on the Internet for money, without the headaches of trust, opening accounts, transferring of money, transaction fees as well as being made to feel you are doing something wrong simply by enjoying yourself and spending your hard earned money. It is the belief of the current invention that there needs to be a simply way to stop funds from heading outside a country destine for another country without a simple way to place boundaries that the public will gladly except and trust, allowing not only the money to stay localized, but also capitalize in the form of taxes for the government on money currently just being lost. According to the present invention there remains a need to take control of the Internet stopping Internet Poker sites and casinos in their tracks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The process and method of the present invention integrates lottery corporations with Internet gaming. Players will be able to purchase tickets as they would a Powerball ticket. For explanation purposes lets give these tickets a name, calling them a "Game With Us" ticket or a GWU Ticket. Players would then take their GWU ticket to a location, namely an Internet website and join in any game they desire to play. Players would win or lose.
Players who win would then be able to return to any participating retailer and "Redeem" their ticket just as one would a current Powerball or Lotto 6/49 winning type of ticket.

In one embodiment of the present invention players would now be able to participate and play online games that are currently offered in Internet sites like Poker Star or Party Poker.
Currently players play in these sites from all over the world. Players may play for fun, no monetary value, or may open accounts and play for real money. When opening an account players are asked for personal information such as names, addresses, emails and phone numbers.
Many people are reluctant to give this information out over the Internet. Also when opening an account for real money, a real money deposit must be made into that players new account.
Currently players may use credit cards, money orders, money wiring services like Western Union, as well as online payment methods such as Pay Pal or NETELLER, where applicable to transfer money. Of course players are charge transaction fees associated with almost every type of transfer. Players are also inconvenienced as these methods are not instant and delays to verify the money is in the account may take anywhere from 24 hours to weeks. If these aren't enough restrictions, many players who would enjoy playing simply don't have credit cards to begin with.
Collectively, these are many reasons why many people just can't be bothered to play in the online Internet sites, even if they did trust these sites to begin with.

On the other hand lottery corporations are already running local games and are trusted within each country where they operate. These corporations have the technology in place to run their current lotteries as well as new games as they are invented. These corporations oversee the games to ensure fairness and put profits back into the economy in the form of retailer profits, employees, taxes and charity. Often corporation's profits are placed in health care, education and other great areas such as building new sports complexes and other worthwhile causes.
Corporations already have the infrastructure in place to sell lottery tickets, namely to sell lottery tickets printed on their terminals within participating retailers. For instance, one of the bigger corporations in the world resides in Ontario, Canada, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). The OLG has 11,000 retailers with machines across the Province of Ontario where they operate the lotteries. The 11,000 retailers sell lottery products such as scratch tickets and progressive jackpot tickets such as Lotto 6/49, likely Canada's biggest lottery. When a player enters a retailer to buy a ticket they simply ask for the ticket they would like to purchase and are printed their request from the lottery terminal that exists within the retailers. These lottery terminals are connected through a secure system to the OLG's main computers where all information is stored and backed up. The actual purchase of a ticket is instant. An employee at a retailer would input the request into the terminal, one Lotto 6/49 ticket, simply buy pressing a touch screen or some similar device and the ticket would instantly be printed.
Information on the ticket is pertinent to the game played and usually includes a date, the type of game, information about the retailer, some lottery numbers relevant to the game played, a draw date and security usually in the form of a bar code so the ticket may be validated at a later date to determine if the ticket is a winning ticket associated with some prize, usually monetary in value.

With the current invention players would now purchase their GWU ticket at a participating retailer who sells these tickets. Most tickets will likely be printed right at the terminals, however one skilled in the art would understand these tickets may also be pre-printed, like a scratch ticket, or a pre-loaded card, like a pay-as-you-go phone or credit card, or in the form of a pouch type ticket, that one would tear open, similar to tickets currently sold or pull tabs. Countless other ticket methods could be used to disperse tickets to the players from the lottery corporation, however, in the preferred embodiment these thickets will be printed right from the terminals in the amounts requested by the player or purchaser of the ticket. So a player could now ask for a $2, $20, $100, GWU ticket and the retailer would print this ticket in the exact same method as they do currently as Powerball or Lotto 6/49 ticket. Of course the lottery corporation who operates each individual game will decide the minimums and maximums a player may spend on a ticket if such limits exist. For instance, the OLG may say that GWU
tickets range from $2 to $200, however the New York Lottery may offer their own GWU game and have limits ranging from $1 to $100.

Some information printed on the GWU ticket would be similar to a regular lottery ticket printed at the terminal, such as a date the ticket was purchased, corporation and retailer information, the price or amount of the ticket and of course a bar code to identify and validate the ticket at a later date. A GWU ticket would also include some information as to where the ticket may be used, say an Internet website address. A GWU ticket would likely surely have some unique identifier such as an "Activation Code" that like a bar code is unique to only that ticket. This Activation Code or Number would be used later by the player when they use the ticket and would help the lottery corporation identify this ticket allowing the player the right to use the ticket, proving ownership.

In another embodiment of the present invention the process would continue now that the player has purchased a GWU ticket. The next step in the process would allow the player to use their ticket to participate in some event or game. One skilled in the art would now understand the player could also play Mobile on a phone or palm held type device, a TV, using a remote control or other remote device, a Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) found in a casino, corner store or other location, a slot machine or similar game, to use their ticket.
However, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention the player would likely access an Internet website to use the ticket. As an example information printed on the purchased ticket the player has may direct them to the Internet site, www.GameWithUs.com, to play and use their ticket.
Of course the corporations will decide what location they send their customers. A
corporation may use their own site, like the OLG using their Internet site www.OLG.ca, the mentioned Game With Us site or any other location. Regardless of the website the player would visit to use their ticket, upon entering this site or other method, the player would easily be able to walk through the process of using their ticket. For instance if the player was playing the OLG GWU game and entered the website as directed on their GWU ticket the player would now be able to use their ticket. The website they are now on would likely be run by the corporation offering the game.

In another embodiment of the present invention each corporation would likely have their very own unique website or location to play. These websites would be very similar to current online Poker sites such as Poker Stars or Party Poker or any online casinos.
These sites would offer a plethora of gaming options for the player such as Poker, Blackjack, Bingo, Slot Machines and countless other games players can play. Some games offered may include games of chance such as Bingo while others may include games of skill like Texas Holdem.
Regardless of the games offered, what is offered would be found in the corporation's site that they are sending their GWU players too which would likely again be found on the actual ticket.

Upon entering the website in the preferred embodiment the player would then select the game they want to participate in. This game may be played against the house, a jackpot game such as a progressive bingo, slot machine or games of skill where players are competing against one another as in many card games like Texas Holdem. Games may be played individually, head to head, in groups such as an entire table of players or in tournament style where as thousands of people could complete in once tournament at one time for a top prize or number of prizes that are posted after entry for that game has stopped. Games in these sites may be played 24 hours a day seven days a week. Some games may have set times such as a nightly tournament while other games could be what is known as sit-and-go where a tournament is announced and once it fills up to a certain number of players the game is immediately held. Other games could include tables that are open and players come and go and play the games, such as walking through a land based casino, just spending your money at any games, jumping from game to game. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention players would play in tournaments such as Bingo or card games like Texas Holdem. Once a player chooses the game they want to join the player would go through the process of joining in this game. With the power of the present invention players could join a tournament or game as easily as clicking join with their mouse and when prompted for information the corporation has set to capture, filling in this information and be joined in this game. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a player could be asked as little as the Activation Code number found on their ticket. This code which would be stored with the corporation's computers would be validated instantly and would allow a player access to join in their desired game. The build in security system would ensure this is a valid Activation Code and that the game the player is joining is not more then what is allowed for play on the GWU ticket.

Currently corporations take an amount of each ticket sold and using mathematics which vary from game to game, amounts of each ticket purchased for games, such as Lotto 6/49 are put into prize pools. For instance the OLG advertises that 47% of the purchase price of a 6/49 ticket that currently sells for $2 is place in a prize pool to possibly be won by the players. Different corporations offer different games and different games are based on different mathematical odds of not only winning, but percentages of sales being possibly won as prizes for the players. In our example here, the remaining 53% of the OLG 6/49 ticket is distributed to the retailer, costs of operating the game and profits.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the corporations would take a percentage of each GWU ticket sold, which may vary from corporation to corporation, and place this amount into prizes that may be in turn won by the players of the games.
Let's say the OLG
was an operator of the Ontario, Canada, GWU game and they were taking 50% of the ticket and giving 50% of the ticket into the form of possible play for the players. So at the time the ticket was sold the corporation would instantly take 50% in our example off the purchase price of a ticket. If a player bought a GWU $20 ticket, the actual printed ticket would likely reflect this as well as the current amount left over, in this case $10, so the player would know this is the amount they could play with when joining their game of choice. Again, these amounts are set by the corporations or operators of the game. The OLG may offer their players 80%
back, so a $20 GWU ticket would have $16 showing as the amount a player may use to play with.
With the current invention it would be understood by those skilled in the art that the less amount corporations kept for themselves the more attractive it would be for players to choose to play their game over any competition, such as other online Internet Poker sites or online casinos.

So if a player chooses to play in a Texas Holdem tournament that had a $10 entry, a player would need a GWU ticket that is valid with at least that amount. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention players would not be able to play in games that they did not have the required amount of entry fee, however they could have a ticket with more then that amount and join in the game. So if a player's ticket was worth $100 and they played in a $10 game, in essence their ticket would have $90 still available for further play.
Players would have options available to them on the site to check their tickets to see how much is still left and available for play. Of course a ticket could be used until its initial reaches zero as long as the player is conforming to all the posted rules and regulations of the corporation. For instance the corporation may only give a player 365 days to use a ticket after purchase.
These rules would be posted in the Terms and Conditions of Use just as every current games have rules. So in our example here if a player joined a $10 entry required game and had $10 available on their GWU
ticket, this player would be joined in this tournament. If 1,000 players joined this tournament at $10 each, a prize pool of $10,000 for this tournament would exist. Different games may have different prize allotments. If this tournament was a winner take all style, the winner of the tournament would win $10,000. This same tournament might have several prizes and first prize may only be 20% of the total prize pool of $10,000. In this example first prize would get $2,000.
Furthermore in the last example players may win prizes for finishing 2d, 3Ttl, 4` and so on and so forth. These prizes will likely be posted as is common place at the start of a tournament. In this example maybe 10& place wins $2. Any players who won at the end of the tournament would have winnings attached to their tickets.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention players who win prizes will have their prizes associated and attached to their ticket. Similar to current lotteries offered the players have a ticket. For most lotteries a draw date and draw occur for the game associated with the ticket. In Ontario, one such lottery offered by the OLG is a lottery called 6/49. After the draw players will usually check their tickets themselves in the newspapers, online, at a retailer or go to a retailer with the ticket and have it validated in the lottery terminal or other devices which allow players to scan in their own tickets. The system instantly validates this ticket and checks it for certain criteria. The most common events that occur when people check their ticket is they have lost. Another common occurrence is the ticket is a winner of some sort.
Depending on the lottery rules some prizes may be claimed right at the retailer while other major prizes, say over $1,000 must be redeemed at other locations, like a casino or the corporations head office. In most instances players win smaller prizes like free tickets that are printed for them for further draws or smaller cash prizes that are paid to them by the retailer. GWU
tickets are usually not much different then other lotteries when it comes to redemption of the actual ticket.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a players winnings are attached to their ticket and players would bring their tickets to a retailer to validate and redeem. Of course players who spent their entry without winning would have losing tickets that would not pay anything, in essence a losing ticket. Players who win will have prizes attached to their tickets.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a players winnings would be redeemable but not re-playable. The difference here is a player would only be able to play with the amount they purchased from the retailer and winnings, although attached to the ticket when redeemed are separate in the fact that when a player uses the full amount attached with the purchased ticket, no matter their winnings, this ticket is not no longer of use in playing, empty or used up if you will.
The ticket may still have worth when redeemed as that is when the prizes won are paid out. In one example mentioned earlier the player who f nished in V place in the winner take all $10,000 prized tournament, when his ticket is scanned back in to verify he is a winner, this player would be owed $10,000. This amount may require the player to send their ticket in or bring it in person to a number of locations that can pay that larger amount. The player who finished 1' when the top prize was 20% of the $10,000 would have won $2,000 and this player two may not be allowed to collect at the retailer unless they pay that amount. However, usually prizes under $1,000 may be collected right at the retailer. So the player who finished 100`' place and won the $2 prize, they would be paid $2 when their ticket is validated.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a player may purchase a ticket, not use it all and win a prize. Instead of having to wait until they use the rest of the unused ticket, they may redeem this ticket for their winnings, be paid for their winnings and be given a new GWU ticket for the unused portion of the ticket. So in this example if a player had a $50 ticket, played a $10 game and still have $40 left to play with, but during this $10 games they won $500, this player could bring this ticket into a retailer and redeem the winnings.
This player would likely be given the $500 in winnings and have a new ticket printed for $40 for which this player may continue to play. Obviously one skilled in the art would understand certain rules may be implemented such as giving this person their full $540 if they requested.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a player likely will not be required to use their full ticket all at once but be able to break down a ticket so to use it in pieces. For instance a player could have a $50 ticket and just in a$10 game, a $5 game, another $5 game and finally a $30 games if they choose. This could be further broken down to very small games, say a penny or nickel. These variations will ultimately be left to the discretion of each corporation that offers and sells GWU tickets.

In yet another embodiment it is possible that a player's winnings may be attached to the player's ticket and this player may be allowed to use this ticket over and over, as desired, where as the ticket then acts like a player's account. The ticket or account in this case may fluctuate as the player plays all the while keeping a total of what is owed or still available to the player. In this example if the player had a $100 ticket, played $10 and won $2,000, this player's ticket would be worth $2,090 ($100 starting ticket -$10 = $90 + $2,000 =$2,090). In this variation the player could keep playing with this ticket until they reached zero available by losing all remaining $2090. Again in this embodiment this amount may fluctuate as the player wins and loses. This player may of course cash this ticket in at any time and be paid the amount owing or won on the ticket depending on corporations rules. In this embodiment a player may still only be paid the winnings and a second ticket would be generated for the amount still unused.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the corporation or operator of the game would take the amount of their profits directly off the ticket upon purchase of the ticket and place the amount the purchaser has remaining right on the actual ticket that is printed. This however does not have to be the case and the corporation may take off their profits at any time, for instance when a player joins in a game. It may be argued that by taking the profits at the time the ticket is purchased the corporation did not take money from the act of gaming but only for the consideration of printing this ticket. If the corporation's profits come out at the time of the printing, in essence they would be giving 100% on the games entry back to the players. A
variation of the present invention could allow the corporations to withdraw their profits at the time the ticket if printed or purchased and by doing so allow this ticket to be played at other online sites, like Poker Stars or Party Poker. This variation goes against the main premise of this invention but is very possible for countries that do not operator their current lotteries and want to share in the profits being made by the online Internet poker rooms and casinos. This variation however does allow for say the BC Lottery Corporation in British Columbia, Canada, to decide not to operate their own game but to allow their players to play and join in the Canadian game or Ontario's game if this is what they decide to do.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention each different lottery corporation would run their own game. This is very powerful. Part of the problems existing with Internet gaming now is that here are no boundaries across the Internet. This is the very reason companies run online casino and poker rooms from the countries they do, to circumvent certain laws that may prohibit certain things they do. This may be as simple as to avoid paying taxes or being regulated. The present invention by its nature place boundaries on the Internet that simple have never existed. Any corporation that operates a GWU game will now be able to capitalize on the online gaming market and in essence take back some or all of what is currently leaving the country. Money leaving the country is not coming back and is not being taxes, hurting an economy. If Ontario operates an Ontario GWU game they are not competing with any other corporation that does or does not offer a game as they are only capitalizing on their own market.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention tickets are printed and purchased at lottery terminals. So to play in the Ontario game one would need a ticket purchased at an Ontario retailer. People in New York State, California or Australia would not be affected by Ontario's game, even if they did not offer their own game as the people in their areas would not be able to purchase a ticket at an Ontario retailer. If each corporation operated their own GWU game none would compete with each other but collectively could promote the same game in their advertisements. Game With Us Ontario, Game With Us Texas, Game With Us Australia could work hard at advertising their games but yet none of these places ever compete for customers.
This is in contrast to the online casinos and poker rooms who each separately compete for people across the old Internet that knew no boundaries. For this simple reason alone it is believed the current invention if implemented by each corporation would destroy online casinos and poker rooms as they exist today.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention players need not go through the entire process of creating accounts when they play. These accounts rely on personal information about the player that in our day and age many people fear handing out to shady or unrepeatable companies. Many people are fearful of things like identity theft, credit card or account information being stolen or just simply being spammed in their email. For these reasons and many others the present invention makes players less apprehensive about playing online.
Although account information can always be gathered if the corporation deems fit, either once or each time, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention no account information will ever be asked. The corporation's outstanding efforts are always ensured at the point of sale to prevent anyone underage from buying tickets. When players play online, all they need to do is enter the Activation Code number and they are permitted to play. Players need not fear what shows up on account statements or their email or identity is in jeopardy of being abused as they are basically anonymous. Of course when a player redeems their tickets they may be required to do certain things the corporation asks, such as security measures like signing their ticket before validation.

The current invention also discloses a game that is built around speed.
Currently with all the methods players transfer and wire money just to open an account the process involved may be ridiculously slow to many. The current invention is about speed a player may play also. A
player may purchase a GWU ticket as easy as going to their corner store. In the future corporations may allow the purchasing of tickets at any point of sale and other locations such as ATM machines. Most people in cities live minutes from a terminal and can leave their residence and be back with a ticket ready to play in much less then 15 minutes or less.

By implementing the current invention it is our belief that new players will appear who never before have played online games for money. The reasons for this are plentiful and too many to list. The main reasons for this are the ease of the entire process to the trust of playing with your local government over someone set up "Off-shore" for a reason. The majority of players who play online for free would now be money paying customers of the corporations.
The ease in which a player may obtain a ticket to play, find and join a game and cash out their winnings, will almost certainly destroy the corporations competition, that is, if online casinos and poker rooms would even be thought of as competition for GWU anymore. With the huge dip in profits from an area that offers GWU it can be predicted the online casinos and poker rooms would no longer promote their games as competing would be obviously frivolous.

The current invention also has a bigger impact on the local economy then just the profits the corporations return back. Big winners would emerge in the form of lottery retailers who now profit from the selling of tickets. Of course under the current system of online casinos and poker rooms taking all the money out of the country, these retailers are getting absolutely zero of this amount. These tables would turn in a very positive way and in turn create more healthy business who many in turn hire more people, expand or at the very least have their owners make more and spend more on things that drive economies. All this without the mention of the more in taxes they'd pay from their higher profits!

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention a controlled winning system is created. Although most concentration is always focused on the profits these online companies are making and where this is coming from, a much larger amount then this is currently being won and lost by the players playing these games. For example, recently it was announced that an Ontario, Canada man won $300,000 playing in an online site called Poker Stars.
This was not money won from Poker Stars, but from the players playing at Poker Stars. In essence this money is recycled between winners and losers. If one area of the world was arguable better at playing poker, they can arguable get more of these winnings, further taking from other areas. The present invention creates what we call, controlled winning. For example, all winners in the Ontario game would also be from Ontario. So in the example of the person who won $300,000, the amount won would be kept in Ontario, won by a person in Ontario. So with the present invention there is never more winnings coming into an area or more losses going out and this is what we call controlled winning and is a very powerful form of gaming that does not currently exist online where boundaries do not exist.

The current invention would also allow the corporations to have bonus games, like a second chance for players who lose, competing for real cash prizes in the form of unclaimed prizes that are in turn still given out in prizes to the players. The corporations would also make money selling advertising in their sites by drawing in a huge number of daily players. These profits are all not realized under the current system which is only working for companies that the average person never sees. These companies don't have employees here, buildings here, pay taxes here and so forth. They'd be invisible if it weren't for the realization billions are leaving the industrialized countries and ending up with them because all the players want is the current invention to be realized.

The present invention is so powerful we have realized its future importance already. On one hand the corporations have everything to gain while the online casinos and poker rooms have everything to lose. If this patent was not granted, in essence the lottery corporations could do this unabated and so swiftly kill online gaming as we know it exists today.
If the corporations buy or license the rights to use this patent the same can easily be said, it is game over for the online casinos and poker rooms. However, if the ownership of this patent falls in the hands of the online casinos and poker rooms they could then license it to the lottery corporations at a very high price, gouging we'd expect, or they could simply prevent the lottery corporations from every realizing what could have been. This is clearly the power of the present invention. Like simple things such as Priceline, eBay, YouTube or Facebook, everyone will ask themselves how come they didn't think of that.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an Example Ticket from one lottery corporation, the OLG.
FIG. 2 is an Example Ticket from second lottery corporation, the New York Lottery.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The major differences between the two tickets are the price and what the corporation is holding as well as the security system they are using is different.

OLG - It is a $20 ticket, but the OLG is giving 80% of the ticket amount back to the player, so their ticket shows $16.

NYL - It is a $100 ticket, but they only give 75% back to the players, so the ticket shows it is worth $75.

Both send the player to the same web site on the ticket, but of course from their, Ontario players would join in the Ontario game and the New York players the New York game. All players could game in the same site in an alternate embodiment, but the preferred embodiment wants them playing local and so no winnings is ever leaving the area where the ticket was sold, so in essence this is controlled winnings as well.

NYL - With a very simple security feature of 12 characters as shown, using only 30 of the possible 36 numbers and letters in each location of the 12 digit long string, over 531,441,000,000,000,000 combinations of tickets could be printed. This number is 531 quadrillion (higher then a trillion). If this method was used as a Validation Code and 3 billion different tickets in any one location were currently in use, only one of every 177,000,000 (177 million) tickets would be in use at any one time. Of course as added security features players could be asked for information, say an email but in the preferred embodiment of the present invention this would not even be necessary. Additional ticket information could be asked like, ticket amount or time ticket was printed, which could be printed in Hour, Minutes and Seconds right on the ticket. There would be no possible way to guess a 1 in 177 million code plus an exact printed time of hour, minute and second the ticket was printed. There are 86,400 seconds in a day so with 3 billion tickets in play the odds of guessing the Validation Code of one of those tickets is over 15 Quadrillion to 1. Of course even guessing a Validation Code does a person no good as they cannot collect on any winnings without the actual printed ticket.

Claims (2)

1. A method of buying entry and participating in online gaming on the Internet comprising:

allowing a ticket to be purchased for some monetary consideration at a lottery retailer;

printing the ticket, if necessary, from a lottery terminal with an unique activation coding information number on the ticket;

providing an Internet web site where games, tournaments and other forms of gaming are allowed and offered;

allowing participants access to, and the ability of playing in this Internet web site, by joining a game without need of an account or any personal information other then the activation information found on the ticket;

allowing participants to play after joining and associating the participants play outcomes with their ticket;

determining if participants are deemed to have won any prizes, including of monetary value;

associating play outcomes of each participant with their unique tickets;

allowing participants the ability to play in different future games if some monetary consideration is still associated with their ticket;

allowing participants to return to a lottery retailer with their ticket for validation;
having a retailer validate the ticket, likely using the lottery terminal;
determining after validation if the ticket is to receive prizes or monetary consideration and paying the participant the prizes or monetary value when permitted to do so.

2. A method for allowing a lottery player to buy entry and participate in online gaming on the Internet, comprising the steps of:

providing the lottery player with a ticket purchased from a lottery retailer;
providing the ticket with a unique activation coding information number thereon;
providing an Internet web site where on-line gaming is conducted;

allowing the lottery player to play at the Internet web site, the play being activated through use of the unique activation coding information on the ticket; and awarding prizes to the lottery player if they win at the on-line gaming.