Patent Application
20130029755
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to the field of pari-mutuel wagering and, more particularly, to placing pari-mutuel wagers at a wagering premises.
Wagering on pari-mutuel horse racing can be a difficult and time consuming activity. The wagering may involve many different types of wagers that may be placed on many different horses.
At a track, a person may elect to go to a betting window to place a wager, or to take advantage of a self-service terminal or a kiosk to place a wager. Win, Place and Show wagers are commonly referred to as straight bets and are easy to understand as they relate respectively to a first, second or third place finish.
With greater knowledge of the horses in a particular race, a player can attempt to predict in which order various horses will place. Additionally, players may attempt to predict not only the order of finishers in a single race, but the finishers over the span of multiple races. These wagers are known as “exotic” wagers. In an exotic wager, the player is increasing the odds for success by placing wagers on multiple horses. In addition to exotic wagers in a single race, players may also place wagers on finishers in multiple races.
The need to go to a teller or kiosk may reduce the number of players wagering on any given race, due to the inconvenience. In addition, a novice player may be intimidated by the various types of wagers and pressure to place wagers quickly when visiting a teller or placing a wager at a self-service terminal or kiosk.
The inventors have appreciated that there is a need for apparatuses and methods that use mobile devices to enable convenient ways for patrons to place wagers at a wagering facility without having to go to a teller or kiosk.
Embodiments of the present disclosure include apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media that use mobile devices to enable convenient ways for patrons to place wagers at a wagering facility without having to go to a teller or kiosk.
In some embodiments, a method of placing a wager includes presenting a wager interface on a mobile device to enable a user to develop a wager identification including a wagering event, a wager type, and a wager amount. A participant interface is presented on the mobile device responsive to the wager identification, the participant interface is for enabling the user to develop a participant identification including one or more participants for achieving one or more participant goals identified responsive to the wager type. A wager request including the wager identification and the participant identification is sent from the mobile device to a server via a secure wireless network configured for operation within a wagering premises and a wager acknowledgement from the server is received on the mobile device via the secure wireless network indicating acceptance of the wager request.
In some embodiments, computer-readable media include device executable instructions, which when executed by a mobile device cause the mobile device to present a wager interface on the mobile device for enabling a user to develop a wager identification including a wagering event, a wager type, and a wager amount. Responsive to the wager identification, the device executable instructions also cause the mobile device to present a participant interface on the mobile device for enabling the user to develop a participant identification including one or more participants for achieving one or more participant goals identified responsive to the wager type. The device executable instructions also cause the mobile device to send a wager request including the wager identification and the participant identification to a server via a secure wireless network configured for operation within a wagering premises and to receive from the server, via the secure wireless network, a wager acknowledgement indicating acceptance of the wager request.
In some embodiments a mobile device includes device executable instructions, which when executed by the mobile device cause the mobile device to present a wager interface on the mobile device to enable a user to develop a wager identification including a wagering event, a wager type, and a wager amount. Responsive to the wager identification, a participant interface is presented on the mobile device for enabling the user to develop a participant identification including one or more participants for achieving one or more participant goals identified responsive to the wager type. Via a secure wireless network configured for operation within a wagering premises, the mobile device sends a wager request including the wager identification and the participant identification to a server and receives a wager acknowledgement from the server indicating acceptance of the wager request.
In some embodiments, a wagering system includes a secure wireless network configured for operation within a wagering premises and including one or more network access points for transmitting and receiving network data for devices authorized to participate on the secure wireless network. The wagering system also includes a server system with one or more servers, wherein a first server is configured for communicating with the secure wireless network. The first server includes a communication interface configured for conveying wager requests and wager acknowledgements on the secure wireless network and between the first server and one or more mobile devices configured for sending the wager requests and receiving the wager acknowledgements. A memory on the first server is configured for storing server executable instructions and one or more processors are configured for executing the server executable instructions to send authorization to the one or more mobile devices to participate on the secure wireless network, receive the wager requests from the one or more mobile devices communicating over the secure wireless network, and send the wager acknowledgements to the one or more mobile devices communicating over the secure wireless network.
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which is shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. The embodiments are intended to describe aspects of the disclosure in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and changes may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.
Furthermore, specific implementations shown and described are only examples and should not be construed as the only way to implement the present disclosure unless specified otherwise herein. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the various embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced by numerous other partitioning solutions.
In the following description, elements, circuits, and functions may be shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present disclosure in unnecessary detail. Conversely, specific implementations shown and described are exemplary only and should not be construed as the only way to implement the present disclosure unless specified otherwise herein. Additionally, block definitions and partitioning of logic between various blocks is exemplary of a specific implementation. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced by numerous other partitioning solutions. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted where such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present disclosure and are within the abilities of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.
Those of ordinary skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof. Some drawings may illustrate signals as a single signal for clarity of presentation and description. It will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the signal may represent a bus of signals, wherein the bus may have a variety of bit widths and the present disclosure may be implemented on any number of data signals including a single data signal.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
Also, it is noted that embodiments may be described in terms of a process that is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe operational acts as a sequential process, many of these acts can be performed in another sequence, in parallel, or substantially concurrently. In addition, the order of the acts may be re-arranged. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. Furthermore, the methods disclosed herein may be implemented in hardware, software, or both. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on computer readable media. Computer readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.
Elements described herein may include multiple instances of the same element. These elements may be generically indicated by a numerical designator (e.g. 110) and specifically indicated by the numerical indicator followed by an alphabetic designator (e.g., 110A) or a numeric indicator preceded by a “dash” (e.g., 110-1). For ease of following the description, for the most part element number indicators begin with the number of the drawing on which the elements are introduced or most fully discussed. Thus, for example, element identifiers on a
It should be understood that any reference to an element herein using a designation such as “first,” “second,” and so forth does not limit the quantity or order of those elements, unless such limitation is explicitly stated. Rather, these designations may be used herein as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, a reference to first and second elements does not mean that only two elements may be employed there or that the first element must precede the second element in some manner. In addition, unless stated otherwise, a set of elements may comprise one or more elements.
The term “bus” may be used to refer to a plurality of signals or conductors, which may be used to transfer one or more various types of information, such as data, addresses, control, or status. Additionally, a bus or a collection of signals may be referred to in the singular as a signal. Some drawings may illustrate signals as a single signal for clarity of presentation and description. It will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the signal may represent a bus of signals, wherein the bus may have a variety of bit widths and the present disclosure may be implemented on any number of data signals including a single data signal.
Embodiments of the present disclosure include apparatuses, methods, and computer readable that use mobile devices to enable convenient ways for patrons to place wagers at a wagering facility without having to visit a teller or kiosk.
For consistency and ease of description, horse races and horse race tracks are primarily discussed herein. However, embodiments of the present disclosure may be used for other wagering events at other wagering premises, where the wagers may be on other participants such as, for example, dogs, Jai Alai players, and cyclists.
The secure wireless network 125 enables users 110A and 110B for example, to wirelessly communicate (115A and 115B) with nearby network access points 120A and 120B using wireless communication capabilities in mobile devices 200A and 200B. The access points 120 are coupled to form the secure wireless network 125 for communication with any mobile device 200 that is authorized to be on the secure wireless network 125. The secure wireless network 125 may be configured to cover most, if not all, of the wagering premises 102 such that the users 110 can place wagers from anywhere on the wagering premises 102 where they are in communication range of a network access point 120. Moreover, the secure wireless network 125 may be configured such that the wireless range does not extend significantly beyond the wagering premises 102.
The mobile devices 200 may be any suitable device that may be carried by a user 110 and is capable of communicating on the secure wireless network 125. As non-limiting examples, the mobile devices 200 may be notebook computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, smart-phones, and similar mobile devices. The mobile devices 200 may utilize a number of operating systems, such as, for example only, Microsoft Windows, Windows mobile and other laptop operating systems, Android operating systems, Apple operating systems, and Blackberry operating systems.
The secure wireless network 125 may be any suitable wireless communication network capable of handling secure communications such as Bluetooth wireless, 802.11a/b/g/n type wireless communication, Zigbee, near filed communication and other wireless local area networks and personal area networks.
The mobile devices 200 are configured to perform device executable instructions to carry out the embodiments discussed herein. As non-limiting examples, these device executable instructions may be downloaded over the secure wireless network 125 or may be downloaded over any suitable network through the Internet.
Within the server system 190, a first server 150 communicates with the secure wireless network 125 through a firewall 140. The firewall 140 may be any suitable router or other network device conveying communications on the secure wireless network 125 in a secure fashion.
Each of the servers 150, 160, and 170 respectively include a communication interface 158, 168, 178, memory 154, 164,174, and one or more processors 152, 162, 168. The servers 150, 160, 170 may be any suitable computer for carrying out operations discussed herein by performing computing instructions and may operate on a variety of operating systems.
In other words, the one or more processors 152, 162, and 172 may be configured for executing computing instructions for a wide variety of operating systems and applications including the computing instructions for carrying out embodiments discussed herein.
The memories 154, 164, 174 may be used to hold computing instructions, data, and other information for performing a wide variety of tasks including performing embodiments of the present disclosure. By way of example, and not limitation, the memories may include Synchronous Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), Flash memory, and the like.
The communication interfaces 158, 168, 178 may be configured for communicating with other devices or communication networks. By way of example, and not limitation, the communication interfaces 158, 168, 178 may include elements for communicating on wired and wireless communication media, such as for example, serial ports, parallel ports, Ethernet connections, universal serial bus (USB) connections IEEE 1394 (“firewire”) connections, bluetooth wireless connections, 802.1 a/b/g/n type wireless connections, and other suitable communication interfaces and protocols.
In the embodiments of
Among other functions, tote processes may be associated with approving wagers, collecting information about various wagering events, event participants (e.g., horses, dogs, and Jai Alai players), and wager amounts in order to determine wagering odds for the various event participants in each wagering event. As part of embodiments of the present disclosure, the wagering odds may be communicated to link processes.
Among other functions, link processes may be associated with communicating information used by embodiments of the present disclosure, between the mobile processes and the tote processes. Link processes may also be associated with receiving and forwarding wagers and wager approvals for the various wagering events.
Depending on the configuration, the wireless processes, the link processes, and the tote processes may be performed by different servers or a single server. In the embodiment of
The embodiment of
A remote tote network 195 may be used to couple the tote server 160 with the mobile/link server 150. In the embodiment of
In the embodiment of
A login interface 300 may be displayed when the user 110 first enters the site associated with embodiment of the present disclosure. Condition 240 indicates that the user 110 has successfully entered a user account identifier and a password before many features of embodiments of the present disclosure may available. As a non-limiting example, condition 220 indicates that the user 110 should be logged in before the user 110 can be issued a ticket through a wager accepted interface 700. As another non-limiting example, condition 230 indicates that the user 110 should be logged in and other configuration conditions met before the user 110 can access interfaces such as a wager interface 500, a results interface 1000, an odds interface 900, and a history interface 800. As non-limiting examples, configuration conditions may be conditions such as having information downloaded to the mobile device 200 related to the wagering premises 102, the wagering events, the event participants, odds associated with the event participants, and information associated with the user's account.
A home interface 400 may be displayed after the user 110 successfully interacts with the login interface 300. From the home interface 400, the user 110 may select other interfaces, such as, for example, the wager interface 500, the results interface 1000, the odds interface 900, and the history interface 800.
From the history interface 800 the user 110 may obtain information about the user's account such as history details 810 and a daily summary 860 as is discussed in more detail below in connection with
From the wager interface 500 the user 110 may set wager parameters 520. With wager parameters 520 set, the mobile device 200 may dynamically assemble information about a leg (i.e., a wager event). With the information assembled, the user 110 may use a participant interface 600 to select parameters related to the event participants (e.g., runners). After the user 110 successfully selects the necessary parameters for the event participants, the wager accepted interface 700 (e.g., an issue ticket indication) may be displayed to indicate that the wager has been accepted by one or more of the various processes and servers 150, 160, 170 discussed above in connection with
The user's account may be funded through conventional monetary requirements of an Advanced Deposit Wagering (ADW) interface to a pari-mutuel wagering system or other funding system, by visiting a teller or kiosk capable of handling financial transactions for funding the user's account, or other suitable account funding mechanisms. As non-limiting examples, accounts may be funded via methods and apparatuses disclosed in; U.S. Pat. No. 7,749,078, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ACCESSING, MANIPULATING AND USING FUNDS”, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/731,701, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ACCESSING, MANIPULATING AND USING FUNDS,” the contents of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
A logout button 260 may be included for logging out of a current session of connection to the secure wireless network 125 (
However, it may be worthwhile to present some terms commonly used in pari-mutuel wagering and some common types of wagers that may be placed before discussing further details.
Betting Interests (also referred to herein as Participants and Runners) may be associated with a number that may be selected during the wagering process that corresponds to an object being contested (Typically a Horse, Greyhound, Jai Alai player, Cyclist, etc).
An Event may be defined as a collection of races, pools and wagering rules for a current run.
A Race Card may be defined as a collection of wagering pools, betting interests and odds for one or more races of an event.
A Pool may be defined as a matrix of money and betting interests, which contains how much money is wagered against each available betting interest in a race.
A Leg may be defined as a position in a bet of which one or more betting interests may be selected. The number of legs will vary by how many race finish positions are being contested in a wager. In multi-leg pools, the legs may represent different positions in the same race, or positions in multiple races.
Types of wagers that may be placed in horse races and other pari-mutuel wagering events can be quite numerous and sometimes complex. The discussion herein is not meant to be an extensive list of wagers that can be placed using embodiments of the present disclosure. Moreover, embodiments of the present disclosure may be adapted to new types of wagers that may be defined in the future as wager popularity, user's tastes, and marketing promotions for wagering premises may change.
Straight bets may be simple wagers such as, Win (choosing a betting interest to come in first), Place (choosing a betting interest to come in first, or second) and Show (choosing a betting interest to come in first, second, or third). More complex wagers are often called exotic bets and include some of the following types of bets.
Combine Pools (WPS, WET, WP, PS, WS)—A combination of wagering pools that are wagered at the same time. For example, when wagering a WPS the patron wagers a Win, Place and Show wager at the same time. Wagering a WET allows the patron to wager a Win, Exacta and Trifecta at the same time.
Exacta (Perfecta, Exactor)—A wager involving choosing the betting interests to finish first and second in exact order in one race.
Quinella—A wager involving choosing the betting interests to finish first and second in either order in one race.
Trifecta (Triactor)—A wager involving choosing the betting interests to finish first, second, and third in exact order in one race.
Superfecta—A wager involving choosing the betting interests to finish first, second, third, and fourth in exact order in one race.
PentaFecta—A wager involving choosing the betting interests to finish first, second, third, fourth and fifth in exact order in one race.
Hexafecta—A wager involving choosing the betting interests to finish first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth in exact order in one race.
Double (Daily Double)—A wager involving choosing the betting interests to finish first in each of two designated races included in the Daily Double.
Triple (Pick 3)—A wager involving choosing the betting interests to finish first in each of three designated races included in the Triple.
Pick N (Pick 4, Pick 5, Pick 6, etc)—A wager involving choosing “N” number of races and choosing the betting interests to finish first in each of the designated races included in the Pick N.
Grand Slam—A wager involving four races. The patron chooses the betting interests to finish first in three races and the betting interest that comes in first, second or third in the fourth race.
Quinella Double—A wager involving two Quinella wagers, each placed on an independent race.
Triella—A wager like a Quinella, except instead of choosing the winning betting interests for two positions, the patron chooses three positions.
Over/Under—A proposition style wager in which a value is determined by the quantity of runners in the race and the patron must wager that the sum of the runner numbers to finish the race in the First, Second, Third and Fourth positions will be over, under or on the predetermined value.
Exchange Wagering—An exchange wagers is a bet wherein a percentage of the first bet (usually 50%) is placed in a pool to be applied to the second bet. Upon winning the first leg, a bettor must take his ticket to a window and cash his winning ticket and then place, (with no additional cost) at a value equal to his original bet, the wager for the next leg in the race. The bettor must hit each half of the wager to hit the jackpot. In embodiments of the present disclosure, there would be no need for the user 110 to go to a ticket window.
Twin-Trifecta—A wager involving an exchange wager with two trifectas.
Tri-Super—An exchange wager with two parts. The first part of the Tri Super is a trifecta (exact order of 1st-2nd-3rd). The second part of the Tri-Super is a Superfecta (pick first 4 finishers exact order of 1st-2nd-3rd-4th)
Big Quinella—A wager involving choosing the runners to finish first and second in either order for two designated races with an exchange to the second race.
Beyond these various wagers, a wager may involve qualifying the bet with combinations other than a straight bet, such as, for example, Box and Wheel combinations. These combination are discussed below in connection with
Returning to
In the user interfaces discussed herein, reference will generally be made to dropdown lists that may be presented when a button or icon on an interface is selected. However, embodiments of the present disclosure may also use popup windows, jump to other windows, or use other graphical elements to present selectable options or entry boxes to the user 110.
In the wager interface 500, the user 110 selects an event from the event button 502, which may present a dropdown list of possible events to choose from. The user 110 selects a race from the race button 504, which may present a dropdown list of possible races to choose from, which may be based on the event selected. A combination of the selected event and the selected race may be referred to herein as a wager identification.
The user 110 selects a pool from the pool button 506, which may present a dropdown list of possible types of wagers that may be placed, such as, for example, win, place, show, trifecta, etc. The elements in the dropdown list for the pool button 506 may be based on the event selected and the race selected. The selected pool may also be referred to herein as a wager type.
The user 110 may define a base wager by selecting an amount button 508, which may present a list of possible base wager amounts. In some embodiments a custom amount entry box 512 may be included, in which case an entry in the custom amount entry box 512 would override the amount selected by the amount button 508. In other embodiments, the amount button may include “custom” as an option to select in the dropdown list. If “custom” is selected, then decision block 510 indicates that the custom amount entry box 512 may be displayed for enabling the user 110 to enter a custom amount that is different from the list of amounts that can be selected from the dropdown list.
When a valid wager identification, wager type, and wager amount have been defined by having valid entries selected for all of buttons 502, 504, 506, and either button 508 or entry box 512, the user 110 may select a next button 518. When the next button 518 is selected, operation block 520 indicates that a leg is dynamically created based on the entries on the wager interface 500, and options and information related to the dynamically created leg are shown on the participant interface 600 as illustrated in
In the participant interface 600, an amount button 614A and 614C (may also be referred to herein as a wager indicator 614) shows the base wager amount and in some embodiments may be selectable to present a dropdown list or other form for modifying the base wager amount. It should be noted that
A user indicator 660 may be presented on the participant interface 600, as well as many other user interfaces. The user indicator 660 may present information such as, for example, the user's name and a current balance in the user's account.
Identifier 675 indicates the wager type. In
As an example with a trifecta type wager, a trifecta “box” with a selection of horses 1-4-7 would pay off if the first three finishers in the race were 1, 4, and 7 in any order. As an example of the trifecta “wheel” type wager, a user 110 selects one or more key horses in various positions relative to other combinations of horses. For example, a trifecta wheel might key horse 2 to win with horses 3, 5, and 7 to finish second and horses 1, 4, and 6 to finish third. This wager would pay off if horse 2 won, any of horses 3, 5, and 7 finished second, and any of horses 1, 4, and 6 finished third.
An event participant column on the right of the participant interface 600 indicates the race number and lists the participants in the race. As a non-limiting example, the event participant column may include information such as the participant's number, name, and odds of winning the event.
A participant selector column on the left of the participant interface 600 includes buttons (e.g., 650A, 650B, 652A, 652B, and 610C) for the user 110 to select to identify the participant that he wants to finish in that position. The indication of which participants are selected for which participant button may be referred to herein as a participant goal. The number of buttons that are presented in the participant selector column will depend on the wager type. For example, in
The participant selector column for
When all the participants have been properly selected, the user 110 may select a “bet” button 690 to make a wager request to process the bet. In addition, at any time the user 110 may press a back button to return to the wager interface 500 to change other parameters of the wager that may not be available on the participant interface 600.
Returning to
When all the runners have been selected for the current wager type, operation block 608 indicates that the user 110 may select the bet button 690 to submit the bet for processing.
Operations within bracket 700 in
Referring to
In the wager accepted interface 700, region 710 may display the wager identification information, such as, for example, base wager amount, wagering premises, event (e.g., race), and wager type. Region 720 may illustrate the participant goals, which identify the participant and its goal finish position(s) depending on the wager type. Region 730 may give a wager acknowledgement in the form of an acknowledgement indicator comprising text, icon, audio, or other type of indication to indicate that the wager has been accepted.
Decision block 708 and repeat button 740 indicate that the wager may be placed again simply by selecting the repeat button and the overall wager acceptance process is repeated.
While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and implementation in alternative forrms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of examples in the drawings and have been described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the following appended claims and their legal equivalents.
