Abstract:
A system in a casino for playing a game, the system comprising: a network of betting terminals linked to a plurality of game tables, first players playing a first game at each of the game tables, at least one first game being a live baccarat game, wherein each of the betting terminals comprises a mechanism to display a plurality of first games occurring at the game tables in the casino so as to allow a second player at each one of the betting terminals to switch to different game tables, place bets at different first games at a same time, place a separate jackpot wager bet on a jackpot game based on the first games being played live at the game tables and select betting options, wherein the system includes a display part having a screen for showing game number and respective amounts available for betting.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application is a continuing application of U.S. Ser. No. 11/497,708 filed Aug. 1, 2006, and a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/042,732, filed Jan. 24, 2005, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/198,218, filed on Aug. 5, 2005 and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/312,150, filed on Dec. 19, 2005, the entire contents of all applications which are incorporated by this reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention is generally directed to a betting terminal for playing a game such as a baccarat game. The invention betting terminal allows players to play different games without moving from one gaming table to another. Therefore, the invention helps to maximize the time spent by players on gaming tables while they are inside a casino and also maximize the utilization of casino floor space. 
         [0003]    Gaming is a major form of modem entertainment. For example, baccarat is one of the more popular gambling games played in casinos or gaming establishments. As is well known, the game is played on an elongated table having a game board displayed along the upper surface of the table. The game board displays certain wagering areas, and the elongated table allows for the seating of multiple players or bettors (1-16) and the positioning of the multiple dealers (3) necessary for operating the casino game. Bettor locations are typically numbered on the table and each bettor location has an area designated for a wager on the bank hand and an area designated for a wager on the player hand. Baccarat uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards and is usually dealt from a shoe having multiple decks that have been shuffled together prior to the beginning of play: A feature of conventional live games is that the betting process is limited to a single game. The simplicity of the betting process has led to a corresponding simplicity in the relatively few types of games which may be placed during in a casino, for example, which may limit interest on the part of the player(s) and thus further limit the casino in terms of profit and payout. The embodiments described below address the above-described issues and needs. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    Provided is a betting terminal for playing a game. The betting terminal comprises a network of terminals linked to different game tables where each of the terminals comprises a mechanism to switch on a plurality of games. A player at one terminal can switch to different tables and place bets at different games at a time. The games can be games of the same kind or games of different kind. 
         [0005]    In some embodiments, a betting terminal can serve as a platform for placing bets in games like baccarat, roulette, sicbo (“dice game”) as well as other common casino table games which are operated at tables linked to game and payout servers and betting terminals through an intranet. In some embodiments, the roulette and sicbo table games can be operated automatically or by human dealers, but the betting results shall be recorded automatically or manually and sent to game and payout servers electronically to allow automatic payout process. 
         [0006]    The present invention also provides a software program or a set of software programs for carrying out any or all steps of the betting method described herein. The baccarat game can also be incorporated into an electronic device or an entertainment gaming machine. Representative electronic devices include, but are not limited to, laptop computers or desktop computers. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  shows an illustrative scheme of the betting terminal described herein. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  shows an illustrative scheme of a betting system of the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  shows a general layout of a betting terminal for live jackpot baccarat game. 
           [0010]      FIGS. 4A ,  4 B,  4 C and  4 D show the detailed layout of a betting terminal for a baccarat machine;  FIGS. 4F ,  4 G and  4 H show variants of the layout of the betting terminal shown in  FIGS. 4A-4D . 
           [0011]      FIGS. 5A ,  5 B,  5 C,  5 D and  5 E show an embodiments of the overall design of the betting terminal. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0012]    Provided is a betting terminal for playing a game. The betting terminal comprises a network of terminals linked to different game tables where each of the terminals comprises a mechanism to switch on a plurality of games. A player at one terminal can switch to different tables and place bets at different games at a time. The games can be games of the same kind or games of different kind. 
         [0013]    The betting terminal can be linked to different types of games. An illustrative general scheme of the betting terminal  100  is described in  FIG. 1 , which includes a switching mechanism  200  allowing a player to select a game to play. The switching mechanism  200  (not shown) can further include a game indicator  210  showing the type of game selected. The switching mechanism can be located in anywhere of the betting terminal. In some embodiments, the betting terminal is linked to a plurality of game tables. An illustrative general layout of a gaming system via a betting terminal of the present invention is provided by  FIG. 2 . In  FIG. 2 , a plurality of betting terminals ( 100 ) (three betting terminal are listed as examples) are linked via a network ( 220 ) to a plurality of game tables ( 300 ). The game tables can be conventional baccarat game tables, jackpot baccarat game tables as described in the U.S. application Ser. Nos. 11/042,732, filed on Jan. 24, 2005, 11/198,218, filed on Aug. 5, 2005 and 11/312,150, filed on Dec. 19, 2005, and Macau Patent Application Nos. 1/150, filed on Feb. 4, 2005 and 1/265, filed on Jan. 24, 2006, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, the game tables can be any game tables played in a casino or internet. 
         [0014]    In one embodiment, the betting terminal described herein is one for baccarat. For example, a baccarat gaming system that allows one to play a live baccarat jackpot as described in the U.S. application Ser. Nos. 11/042,732, filed on Jan. 24, 2005, 11/198,218, filed on Aug. 5, 2005 and 11/312,150, filed on Dec. 19, 2005, and Macau Patent Application Nos. 1/150, filed on Feb. 4, 2005 and 1/265, filed on Jan. 24, 2006, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
         [0015]    A general layout of a betting terminal for a live jackpot baccarat game is shown in  FIG. 3 ,  FIGS. 4A and 4B .  FIG. 3  shows the overall layout of the betting terminal ( 100 ), which has two screens, the upper screen ( 400 ) and the lower screen ( 500 ), shown in detail in  FIGS. 4A and 4B , and a switching mechanism  200 , which is not shown. Referring to  FIG. 4A , upper screen  400  includes an display part ( 410 ) for displaying the rolling amount of jackpot, the center part ( 420 ) for displaying a live video of the gambling table, and a messenger screen ( 430 ) for displaying messages or game cards. The center part of the upper screen has a left section designated as Player ( 440 ), which has a small screen ( 450 ), and right section  10  designated as Banker ( 460 ), which also has a small screen ( 470 ). The small screens  450  and  470  are for display of card values of the player hand and the bank hand respectively. The current limits available for betting on Player (player hand) and Banker (bank hand) in a live baccarat game are shown in small screens  480  and  490  below small screens  450  and  470 , respectively. Referring to  FIG. 4B , the lower screen  500  is an operating touch screen for betting, which includes bet-option buttons ( 510 ), bet-amount buttons ( 520 ), and credit window ( 530 ). The bet-option buttons  510  include the various betting selections described above, e.g., betting for player hand ( 511 ) win with a payoff rate of 1:1, for the bank hand ( 512 ) win with a payoff rate of 1:0.95, for tie ( 513 ) with a payoff rate of 20 1:8, for Player Pairs ( 514 ) with a payoff rate of 1:11, for banker pairs ( 515 ) with a payoff rate of 1:11, and for Jackpot bet ( 516 ), the rules of which are described above. Box  517  shows the pops up when bets are placed on a particular bet option. The number inside Box  517  corresponds to the amount placed on a particular bet option. The bet-amount buttons  520  as shown in the layout, 100,500, 1000,5000, 10000, provide the players the convenience of adding up betting amounts in a fast manner. 
         [0016]    To illustrate, for a bet of 10,000 USD or HKD, the player can simply press the “1000” button ten times to reach the desired betting amount. Note, the bet-amount buttons  520  shown are illustrative and non-exclusive. Buttons designated for other amounts, e.g., “1”, “5”, “10”, “100”, “100,000”, “1,000,000” can be readily added to the screen. The credit window  530  shows the remaining balance of a player&#39;s credit. The player may insert bills or chips into or transfer money from a credit card account and/or a bank account to the machine to add up the credit amount from time to time. If the player desires to stop playing the baccarat game and to cash out, he may ask the operator to authorize a cash-out procedure, and then obtain the remaining balance. Still referring to  FIG. 4B , the lower screen  500  further includes language selection button ( 540 ), which can switch the operation language of the baccarat game between, e.g., Chinese, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean, etc, Rule selection button ( 550 ), which prompts the display of rules for live baccarat and Paradise Jackpot™, Cancel button ( 560 ), which allows the bettor to cancel all bets made before he presses the confirmation button on the top right hand corner of the lower screen. Operator button ( 570 ), which allows the bettor to call for assistance from the casino staff when there is machine failure or the bettor wishes to exit from the game, and Results Bars ( 580 ,  590 ) which display the results for previous live baccarat games. Once results of a game are confirmed, the losing bet shown in the bet option buttons ( 510 ) in the center of lower screen will disappear while the winning bet in the bet option buttons ( 510 ) in the lower screen will flash and a diagram will pop up with detailed breakdown of the payouts for each of the bet options won. 
         [0017]      FIGS. 4C and 4D  show two variants of the design of the betting terminal similar to the embodiment as described in  FIGS. 4A-4B . Referring to  FIG. 4C , upper screen  400  includes a display part ( 410 ) for displaying the baccarat game result and rolling amount of jackpot, a display part ( 420 ) for displaying a live video of the gambling table, and a messenger screen ( 430 ) for displaying game cards. The display 10 part  420  has a left section designated as Player ( 440 ), which has a small screen ( 450 ), and right section designated as Banker ( 460 ), which also has a small screen ( 470 ). 
         [0018]    The small screens  450  and  470  are for display of card values of the player hand and the bank hand respectively. The current limits available for betting on Player (player hand) and Banker (bank hand) in a live baccarat game are shown in small screens  480  and  490  below small screens  450  and  470 , respectively. Still referring to  FIG. 4C , the display part  420  can display Player game cards  440 A and Banker game cards  460 A. The messenger screen  430  shows game cards directly from a shoe in a baccarat game (not shown),  440 B and  440 C for the Player, and  460 B and  460 C for the Banker. The game cards  440 A and  440 B correlate to each other can have the same or different appearance. Similarly, the game cards  460 A and  460 B correlate to each other can have the same or different appearance. Preferably, game cards  440 A,  440 B,  440 C,  460 A,  460 B and  460 C are shown directly from a shoe in a baccarat game (not shown). 
         [0019]    Still referring to  FIG. 4C , the display part  410  includes a screen ( 412 ) for showing jackpot amount, display  414  showing game number (e.g., game No. 52) and respective amounts available for betting on banker pairs, player pairs or tie, display  416  showing the frequency of bank hand win, player hand win and tie in past games, and display  418  showing the sequence of bank hand win, player hand and tie in past games. 
         [0020]    Referring to  FIG. 4D , the lower screen  500  is an operating touch screen for betting, which includes bet-option buttons ( 510 ), bet-amount buttons ( 520 ), and credit window ( 530 ). The bet-option buttons  510  include the various betting selections described above, e.g., betting for player hand ( 511 ) win with a payoff rate of 1:1, for the bank hand ( 512 ) win with a payoff rate of 1:0.95, for tie ( 513 ) with a payoff rate of 1:8, for Player Pairs ( 514 ) with a payoff rate of 1:11, for banker pairs ( 515 ) with a payoff rate of 1:11, and for Jackpot bet ( 516 ), the rules of which are described above. Box ( 511 A) and Box ( 517 ) show the pops up when bets are placed on a particular bet option. The number inside Box  511 A corresponds to the amount placed on a particular bet option on a player hand win. The number inside Box  517  corresponds to the amount placed on a particular bet option on banker hand win. Display screen ( 518 ) shows the total accepted amount of bets placed on all bet options. The bet-amount buttons  520  as shown in the layout, 50, 100, 500, 1000, provide the players the convenience of adding up betting amounts in a fast manner. Note, the bet-amount buttons  520  shown are illustrative and non-exclusive. Buttons designated for other amounts, e.g., “1”, “5”, “10”, “100”, “100,000”, “1,000,000” can be readily added to the screen. The credit window  530  shows the remaining balance of a player&#39;s credit. The player may insert bills or chips into or transfer money from a credit card account and/or a bank account to the machine to add up the credit amount from time to time. If the player desires to stop playing the baccarat game and to cash out, he may ask the operator to authorize a cash-out procedure, and then obtain the remaining balance. Still referring to  FIG. 4D , the lower screen  500  further includes language selection button ( 540 ), which currently is in Chinese and can switch the operation language of the betting table between, e.g., Chinese, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean, etc., Rule selection button ( 550 ), which prompts the display of rules for a selected game (e.g., a live baccarat and Paradise Jackpot™), Stand-by button  550 A to lock the betting terminal if the better wishes to leave the terminal for a short period of time, Cancel button ( 560 ), which allows the bettor to cancel all bets made before he presses the confirmation button on the top right hand corner of the lower screen, Operator button ( 570 ), which allows the bettor to call for assistance from the casino staff when there is machine failure or the bettor wishes to exit from the game, and Results Bars ( 580 ,  590 ) which display the results for previous live baccarat games. Once results of a game are confirmed, the losing bet shown in the bet option buttons ( 510 ) in the center of lower screen will disappear while the winning bet in the bet option buttons ( 510 ) in the lower screen will flash and a diagram will pop up with detailed breakdown of the payouts for each of the bet options won. 
         [0021]      FIGS. 4F and 4H  are alternative designs of the upper screen  400  as shown in  FIG. 4A , which has a similar layout as the one shown in  FIG. 4A  except that the top left corner of the upper screen displays the words “Paradise Jackpot™” and the bottom rim has a blank bar and numbers  1  through  20  for showing the result of past games on top of the bar.  FIGS. 4E and 4G  are alternative designs of the lower screen of  500  as shown in  FIG. 4B , which as a similar layout as the one shown in  FIG. 4B  except that the top rim of the lower screen  500  bears letters indicating the left side as the Player side and the right side and the Banker side, a screen at the far up-left corner indicating the maximum bet on the player hand accepted by the dealing table in a game, and a screen at the far up-right corner indicating the maximum bet on the banker hand accepted by the dealing table in a game. 
         [0022]      FIG. 5A  shows an embodiment of the top layout betting terminal of the present invention. The top layout includes information Lamp  610 , which can be color-changeable LED and flashes when a player wins a betting option, an upper screen  620 , bottom screen  630 , a ticket printer slot  640 , a bill slot  650 , table  660  for holding beverage drinks or ashtray, and speaker  670 . In some embodiments, the ticket printer can print out ticket with bar code. In some embodiments, a player can also insert ticket with bar code to increase the credit amount that a play may have in a betting game.  FIGS. 5B and 5D  show two side views of the betting terminal, showing a cable path.  FIG. 5C  shows a front view of the betting terminal, showing the top layout described in  FIG. 5A  and speaker  670 .  FIG. 5E  shows a back view of the betting terminal of this embodiment, showing Lamp  610 , lock mechanism  690  and fan  692 . In an embodiment, three betting terminals can be clustered in a unit. In some embodiments, the betting system can automatically generate commonly accepted format of past results of played games on the screen to provide references for players. 
         [0023]    The betting terminal described above can be embodied in any form. In some embodiments, the betting terminal can be a device. In some embodiments, the betting terminal can be a virtual terminal. One of ordinary skill in the art can readily construct the betting terminal described herein. 
         [0024]    The betting terminal described above can be used in any gaming system. In some embodiments, a betting terminal can serve as a platform for placing bets in games like baccarat, roulette, sicbo (“dice game”) as well as other common casino table games which are operated at tables linked to game and payout servers and betting terminals through an intranet. In some embodiments, the roulette and sicbo table games can be operated automatically or by human dealers, but the betting results shall be sent to game and payout servers electronically to allow automatic payout process. 
         [0025]    In some embodiments, the gaming system can further include a device on each dealing table to record the betting results automatically or manually and send the results to server for computation of payouts. In some embodiments, such a device can be, for examples, electronic scanning or reading devices known in the art, card dealing shoe with scanning device to read the cards, electronic detecting device to identify ball location on a roulette and image recognition device for reading results of a dice game. 
         [0026]    In some embodiments, the gaming system is a baccarat gaming system. The gaming system can include a dealing table comprising a touch screen. The dealing table allows a dealer to perform a dealing process. The touch screen can prompt the dealer of the dealing process. In some embodiments, the touch screen can provide dealing instructions. The games that can be played via the betting terminal described herein in game tables or terminals located within a single gaming establishment or throughout multiple gaming establishments. The game tables or terminals can be linked together by wire or wireless linking or connecting mechanisms. In some embodiments such linking mechanisms can be electric and/or optical cable. In some embodiments, the linking mechanism can be internet or intranet. 
         [0027]    In some embodiments, the present invention also provides a software program or a set of software programs for carrying out any or all steps of the betting method described herein. The baccarat game can also be incorporated into an electronic device or an entertainment gaming machine. Representative electronic devices include, but are not limited to, laptop computers or desktop computers. In some embodiments, such electronic devices can be a cell phone, a blackberry device or a hand held device such as hand held personal computer (PC) or personal data assistants (PDAs). The betting table and system described above can be readily constructed by an artisan of ordinary skill. 
         [0028]    While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications can be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects. Therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.