Patent ID: 7753784

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a plurality of gaming machines, each gaming machine including: at least one input device; at least one display device; at least one processor; and at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to enable a player to place at least one wager on at least one play of a primary game; and a controller configured to operate with the gaming machines to: (a) for each of said plurality of gaming machines, maintain a separate accumulated supplemental award pool for said gaming machine, said maintained accumulated supplemental award pool for each gaming machine based, at least in part, on wagers placed at said gaming machine; and (b) upon an occurrence of a bonus event associated with an award and occurring in association with a first one of the gaming machines, for each of at least one of the other gaming machines: (i) determine a supplemental award based on the accumulated supplemental award pool of said gaming machine and a selected supplemental award percentage, said selected supplemental award percentage being greater than zero, and (ii) cause said gaming machine to provide the determined supplemental award.