Patent ID: 8348753

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a plurality of gaming devices; and a controller configured to operate with the plurality of gaming devices to: (a) acquire a plurality of ranking components from each of the plurality of gaming devices, wherein the ranking components are based at least in part on wager activity from the plurality of gaming devices during a designated period of time; (b) determine a ranking for each of a plurality of the gaming devices based on the acquired ranking components for each of said gaming devices, wherein for each of said gaming devices, the determined ranking of said gaming device is based on a comparison of the acquired ranking components for said gaming device relative the acquired ranking components for each of the other gaming devices; (c) determine a plurality of less than all of the ranked gaming devices that are eligible for a designated award; (d) for each of the plurality of eligible gaming devices, determine, based at least in part on the determined ranking for at least one of the eligible gaming devices, a probability of being selected to win the designated award, the probability being less than one hundred percent but greater than zero percent; (e) determine whether a triggering event occurs; and (f) if the triggering event occurs: (i) select at least one of the eligible gaming devices based at least in part on the determined probability for said at least one eligible gaming device, and (ii) cause the at least one selected gaming device to provide the designated award.