Patent ID: 7526447

Claim:
A financial and reward system for a casino, comprising: a plurality of gaming terminals, each gaming terminal comprising: a player identification input device; one or more input mechanisms for receiving cash or an indicia of credit for a wager to play a wager based game; one or more output mechanisms for outputting cash or an indicia of credit; a financial transaction host, said financial transaction host in communication with each of said plurality of gaming terminals via a communication network, said financial transaction host including memory for storing data files corresponding to players' personal accounts and identifiable with player identification data from said player identification input device, said data files including information regarding finances available for use by said player in playing one or more of said plurality gaming terminals; a player reward host, said player reward host in communication with each of said plurality of gaming terminals and said financial transaction host, said player reward host including a memory for storing data files corresponding to players and identifiable with said player identification data, said data files including player reward information; and at least one communications gateway through which a player, on at least one of the plurality of gaming terminals, has access to combine player personal accounts, open a new player personal account, or close out an existing player personal account at said financial transaction host using said player's player identification data.