Patent ID: 7063617

Claim:
A gaming machine, comprising: a housing; a master gaming controller residing within the housing designed or configured to control a game of chance played on the gaming machine and to distinguish between two types of credits, cashable credits and restricted credits, wherein each game of chance comprises: a) receiving a wager, comprising an amount of at least one of the restricted credits, the cashable credits or combinations thereof, on a game outcome for the game of chance, b) determining the game outcome for the game of chance, c) determining an award corresponding to the game outcome using a pay table that specifies the award for each possible game outcome for the game of chance wherein at least one award is an amount of the restricted credits and d) displaying the game outcome for the game of chance and the determined award corresponding to the game outcome wherein awarded restricted credits are stored on the gaming machine and available for wagers on subsequent games of chance until cashed out; and a display device for displaying the outcome of the game of chance.