Patent ID: 9659448
Date: 2017-05-23
CPC Classifications: G07F

Claim:
1. A method for monetizing virtual gaming winnings comprising: eliciting and receiving a plurality of customers to a gaming website controlled by a computer system; selecting, using the computer system, a first plurality of contestants from the plurality of customers for participation in a virtual gaming tournament; conducting, using the computer system, the virtual gaming tournament, wherein each one of the first plurality of contestants play in the virtual gaming tournament using a device operatively coupled to the computer system via an internet connection, and wherein no prizes are awarded in relation to the conducting of the virtual gaming tournament; selecting, using the computer system, a subset of the first plurality of contestants to form a second plurality of contestants, wherein the second plurality of contestants qualifies for entry to a live gaming tournament to be held at a physical location, and wherein the selecting of the subset of the first plurality of contestants is based at least in part on performance of the first plurality of contestants in the virtual gaming tournament; conducting the live gaming tournament at the physical location as a competition between only those contestants of the second plurality of contestants physically present in the physical location at a start of the live gaming tournament; and awarding prizes to a subset of the second plurality of contestants based at least in part on performance of the second plurality of contestants in the live gaming tournament.