REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

Applicant claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/585,176 filed November 13, 2017 and entitled "EXTENDED PLAY LOTTERY GAME".

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to lottery games, and specifically to lottery games which include an extendable option of play.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Gaming tickets have existed for decades. A gaming ticket may include any type of wager placed upon a sporting event, game of chance, or other wage type play. One of the most common types of such gaming ticket is a lottery ticket.

The most common type of lottery game is generally referred to as lotto games and are based on the concept of the player selecting specific numbers. The games usually involve players picking their own numbers or using a computer or some other mechanism to choose the numbers, in an attempt to match the numbers against those drawn by the lottery at a later time. Typically, the game involves a pool of numbers to choose from and a corresponding quantity of balls each having one of the unique numbers in the pool. The lottery then draws the designed quantity of lottery numbers, such as three, five or six numbers, using the balls and a top prize is won if all numbers match in any order. This type of lottery game also provides monetary prizes for matching less than the total number of lottery drawn winning numbers.

In some instances a bonus ball can be added to a lotto game. Here, for example, instead of playing a game with six balls from one common pool, the game includes the selection of five balls from a first pool and a sixth bonus ball from a separate, second bonus pool.

With any of these lottery type games, the player is limited to prizes, typically monetary prizes, which are designated by the lottery system. Such a prize allotting system is restrictive and limited in nature.

It thus is seen that a need has long existed for a lottery game which may extend the game playing ability of the lottery and be able to provide a variety of prizes in addition to the standard game prize. Accordingly, it is to the provision of such that this invention is primarily directed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a lottery gaming system embodying principles of the invention in a preferred form.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the lottery game of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference next to the drawings, there is shown a lottery gaming system 10 in a preferred form of the invention. The lottery gaming system 10 includes a lottery authority or game administrator 12 which provides a central system to persist and retrieve various information required for game management play such as authority information, game information, draw information, retailer information and other similar information. The game administrator may also be used for wager management with information such as ticket serial numbers and specific game, draw, panel, component options selected by the player. The system could be hosted on premise upon servers or cloud based hosted on virtual instances of computing resources such as to services, databases, queues, file storage, internet web servers and other associated resources.

The game itself includes the base attributes of a conventional lottery game and ticket. The lottery ticket 30 is imprinted with the date of purchase, a unique ticket identifier, an award validation attributes which usually describe the game identifier, the draw identifier, a draw date, and the player selected numbers or other attributes of the wager. The draw date identifies the date upon which the winning numbers are selected and subsequently validated or claimed. The ticket may also include an authority authorized retail identifier and an authority authorized retail terminal identifier which provides additional validation attributes which identify the location and exact terminal used at that location for the purchase of the ticket. These attributes are recorded by the lottery authority.

The award validation attributes contain information such as the numbers within a range in one or more sets that match the game rules and number selection pool for a specific game. An example of game rules might be that the top prize is awarded to a claimant when the wager attributes on a ticket matches the winning numbers picked at random as a result of a draw. If the ticket's wager attributes (including the player's selected numbers) are numbers and are 12, 23, and 34 and the draw winning award validation attributes (lottery game's winning numbers) are numbers and are 12, 23, and 34 then a prize (first award or first type award) associated with a winning status for the lottery draw or game is awarded by the lottery authority to the claimant possessing the matching wager attributes. Of course, the game may also include an award (winning status for a first award associated with the lottery authority) for selecting only some of or a subset of the winning numbers.

FIG. 2 schematically shows an electronic ticket 30, in a preferred form of the invention that may be any type of ticket even though the ticket described in detail herein is in the form of a gaming ticket and specifically to a gaming ticket in the form of a lottery ticket. As used herein, the term ticket is meant to represent any type of bearer instrument such as, but not limited to, a lottery ticket, a gambling ticket, a bond, a stock certificate, or coupon.

In the present invention, the game includes the first pool of standard selected numbers and corresponding game balls 40, which may be of any number of balls and may or may not include an additional bonus ball 45 from a second set or pool of balls. Alternatively, the standard game balls 40 may all come from a single pool or may each be associated with its own pool (three balls from three separate pools). In a first variation of the present invention, a merchant designated additional ball 50 comes from a large pool of merchant designated additional balls, the merchant being a third party which is not the lottery authority. Each merchant designated additional ball 50 is associated with a prize or award (second award) designated by the commercial merchant associated with the merchant designated additional ball 50. For example, the commercial merchant may be a commercial soft drink manufacturer and the prizes or awards may include discount coupons, free drinks, tickets to sporting events, travel to select sporting events, cash prizes or any other conventionally know type of prize or award. The comparison and matching of the player's selected number from the merchant pool of numbers to the randomly selected pool of merchant numbers establishes a winning status for the merchant pool game. The winning of the merchant pool game may, or may not, also depend on the matching of at least one number from the lottery game.

In use, the lottery game may be played conventionally with the winning user or player obtaining the award for matching the randomly selected standard game balls 40 from the first pool of standard selected numbers in typical fashion, i.e., the winner of the standard lottery game collects the prize or award (first award associated with first award validation attributes) as usual through a comparison of the player's selected numbers to the lottery game's winning numbers. However, with the additional merchant designated additional ball 50 the play of the lottery game is extended to include the potential for additional prizes or awards, i.e. second awards may be provided which are associated with second award validation attributes. For example, should the player select a number from the second pool of numbers associated with the lottery drawn selected merchant designated additional ball 50 and that number is compared to and matches the additional merchant designed additional ball, that player will win the designed prize or award associated with that number (or designated prize). The game may award prizes solely on the proper selection of the merchant designated additional ball 50 (by picking the correct number the player wins regardless of the correct selection of the standard game balls 40) or may require a proper selection of the merchant designated additional ball 50 in combination with the standard game numbers (by picking the correct number associated with the merchant designated additional ball 50 and the picking of all, or a portion of, the standard game balls 40).

As a second variation of the present invention, the game may also include the option of having more than one merchant designated additional ball 50 which are associated with multiple pools of number or balls, wherein each merchant is associated with one pool of merchant designated additional ball 50. For example, a first pool of merchant designated additional balls 50 may be associated with a commercial soft drink manufacturer (Brand A), while a second pool of merchant designated additional balls 50 may be associated with a commercial drug store chain (Brand B), and a third pool of merchant designated additional balls 50 may be associated with a commercial gas station chain (Brand C).

In use, the lottery game may be played conventionally, as previously described, with the winner obtaining the award for matching the standard game balls 40 in typical fashion, i.e., the winner of the standard lottery game collects the prize or award as usual, which is illustrated in Fig. 1 as Lottery A 14 to Game A Jackpot Winner 15. However, with the additional merchant designated additional balls 50 the play of the lottery game is extended to include additional prizes or awards each associated with a different merchant. The player may choose a number associated with each of the three merchants or at least one of the three merchants. However, with the additional merchant designated additional balls 50 (Brand A 22, Brand B 23, and Brand C 24) from each of the three additional pools, the play of the lottery game is extended to include additional prizes or awards associated with each of the three merchants (Super-Branded Game A 17 by the soft drink manufacturer, Super-Branded Game B 18 by the drug store chain, and Super-Branded Game C 19 by the gas station chain) resulting in additional awards which may include Branded Jackpot Winner A 27, Branded Jackpot Winner B 28, Branded Jackpot Winner C 29, and lower prizes which are not "jackpots".

As a third variation of the present invention, the merchant designated additional balls may be associated with more than one entity or merchant. As such, this variation is similar to the first variation except that it includes prizes or awards associated with more than one merchant contained within a single pool of merchant designated additional balls or numbers, i.e., the pool may contain all three of the previously identified merchants.

Of course, variations of the merchant specific gaming capabilities of the present invention may be included in addition to those specifically recited, such as the additional merchant designated additional balls 50 being associated with more than one merchant within a single pool of additional merchant designated additional balls 50, i.e., the pool of additional merchant designated additional balls 50 includes several merchant entities.

It should also be understood that the payout for the game may be controlled in different manners. The payout of the lottery game is controlled through the lottery authority, the payer of the merchant game is controlled by the merchant entity associated with the additional merchant designated additional balls 50, or by a combination of the lottery authority and merchant entity.

The payment of the lottery game and/or the merchant game may be accomplished digitally through the use of digital tickets or the like. Digital bearer instrument, especially lottery tickets, and its validation is described in detail in U.S. Patent No. 10, 115,264, which is specifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

It should be understood that a pool of numbers, as used herein, may also include a pool of any other indicia and is not limited to actual numbers. For example, the pool may be any alpha-numeric indicia, symbol, image, designation or other graphic which enables one to identify a specific item from a group of items. The term numbers used herein is for convenience as people readily associate a lottery with numbers rather than any other visual identifier.

As such, a method of playing a lottery game organized by a lottery authority comprises the steps of providing a first pool of numbers, wherein the first pool of numbers are associated with the play of a first lottery game associated with first award validation attributes, the first lottery game providing first awards distributed by the lottery authority, providing a second pool of numbers, wherein the second pool of numbers are associated with the play of a second lottery game associated with second award validation attributes, the second pool of numbers being associated with at least one merchant which is not the lottery authority and which is providing second awards distributed by the merchant, recording a player's selected numbers from the first pool of numbers, recording a player's selected numbers from the second pool of numbers, randomly selecting a first lottery game's winning numbers from the first pool of numbers, randomly selecting a second lottery game's winning number from the second pool of numbers, comparing the recorded player's selected numbers from the first pool of number to the first lottery game's winning numbers to determine a winning status for the first lottery game, comparing the recorded player's selected numbers from the second pool of numbers to the second lottery game's winning numbers to determine a winning status for the second lottery game, and establishing an award for the second lottery game based on at least one match established between the compared recorded player's selected number from the first pool of numbers to the first lottery game's winning numbers and a match between the compared recorded player's selected numbers from the second pool of numbers to the second lottery game's winning numbers for the player.

As used herein, the term ball and number may be used interchangeably as the ball reflects the number designated upon the ball.

It should be understood, that the terms first, second, third and fourth used herein may vary, especially in reference to the claims, as the description of such is sequential, which may change with a given description or variation herein or within the claims.

It thus is seen that a lottery game is now provided which extends the play of the standard lottery game. Although the new lottery game has been shown in its preferred form, many modifications, additions and deletions, in addition to those expressly recited herein, may be made thereto without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.