Patent ID: 8092302

Claim:
A gaming system central controller comprising: 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 a plurality of gaming devices to: (a) maintain a plurality of progressive awards, (b) for each of a plurality of players, upon an occurrence of a point accumulation event, accumulate a quantity of progressive event points for that player, and (c) after an occurrence of a triggering event: (i) determine a designated wager amount placed by each of the players playing at the plurality of gaming devices during a designated period of time, (ii) select one of the players playing at one of the gaming devices during the designated period of time to win one of the progressive awards, the selection based on the designated wager amount placed by the selected player during the designated period of time, (iii) assign the selected player to one of a plurality of progressive event tiers based on the quantity of progressive event points accumulated for the selected player, each one of the progressive awards associated with a probability of being provided for the assigned progressive event tier, (iv) randomly select at least one of the progressive awards in accordance with the probabilities associated with the assigned progressive event tier, and (v) cause the at least one randomly selected progressive award to be provided to the selected player.