Patent ID: 8235805

Claim:
A method of operating one or more games of chance for a plurality of players with one or more computers, comprising: identifying at least two players participating in a selected one of the games of chance at the expiration of a predetermined time period at the beginning of every game of chance; establishing at the one or more computers a wager pool for each selected game of chance, the wager pool including a total of wager amounts from each of the identified players at one or more physical locations; reducing the wager pool by a takeout amount that corresponds to a predetermined percentage of the wager pool; generating one or more random numbers; determining one or more winners of the selected game of chance based on the one or more random numbers; calculating the amount of winnings for the determined one or more winners using a non-predetermined payout amount in which players compete with one another in the selected game of chance for winnings; and distributing, at the end of each game of chance, all of the funds from the wager pool for each wager type to the determined one or more winners of the selected game of chance, wherein a portion of a player's wager is not deducted as a takeout amount at a player terminal but instead is deducted when the player's wager is combined with wager amounts from other players to establish the wager pool, wherein players cannot alter a start time of any of the offered games of chance from any player terminal; wherein all of the games of chance operate continuously in pre-established time sequences and regardless of whether or not wagers have been made by any player; and wherein a monetary value that corresponds to all of the funds of the wager pool that are distributed at the end of each game to the one or more winners does not change in value based on winnings made in previous and future games participated in by one or more of the plurality of players.