Patent ID: 7674178

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: at least one central controller configured to maintain a plurality of progressive awards, wherein for each one of the plurality of progressive awards, said progressive award is associated with one of a plurality of different probabilities of being provided, each of the plurality of different probabilities being greater than zero percent and less than one-hundred percent; and a plurality of gaming machines, each one of the gaming machines including: at least one display device; at least one input device; at least one gaming machine processor configured to communicate with the at least one central controller; and at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one gaming machine processor after an occurrence of a random triggering event, cause the at least one gaming machine processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device, for a play of a secondary game, to: (i) cause the at least one display device to display a first recommendation to select a first one of the plurality of progressive awards during the play of the secondary game, the first recommendation being based, at least in part, on the probability of being provided associated with the first one of the progressive awards, (ii) cause the at least one display device to display a second, different recommendation to select a second one of the plurality of progressive awards during the play of the secondary game, the second, different recommendation being based, at least in part, on the probability of being provided associated with the second one of the progressive awards, (iii) enable a player to directly select only one of the plurality of progressive awards after the first and second recommendations are displayed, and (iv) enable the player to play for the selected progressive award during the play of the secondary game.