Patent ID: 7997981

Claim:
A gaming system adapted for providing bonuses associated with gaming events involving the placement of a wager, the play of a main game based on the wager and the grant of a payout based on the result of the main game, the system comprising: at least one gaming machine adapted for hosting gaming events involving a wager, the play of a gaming machine main game based on the wager and the grant of a payout based on the result of the gaming machine main game, said at least one gaming machine having an outer housing, a master gaming controller and at least one gaming machine tracking device adapted to facilitate the tracking of gaming events associated with a first patron playing at said at least one gaming machine; at least one gaming table adapted for hosting gaming events involving a wager, the play of a gaming table main game based on the wager and the grant of a payout based on the result of the gaming table main game, said at least one gaming table having an upper surface adapted for the play of table games and at least one gaming table tracking device adapted to facilitate the tracking of gaming events associated with a second patron playing at said at least one gaming table; and a universal bonus server in direct or indirect communication with said gaming machine tracking device and said gaming table tracking device, said universal bonus server being adapted to track specific gaming activities at both of said at least one gaming machine and said at least one gaming table, wherein a singular universal bonus provided by said universal bonus server is simultaneously made available to said first player based on play at said at least one gaming machine and said second player based on play at said at least one gaming table, and wherein said singular universal bonus is funded at least in part by taking a portion of wagers at said at least one gaming machine and said at least one gaming table, and wherein the universal bonus server is configured to extend a bonus in a first game type based on a criteria of the first game type to a second game type not having the first criteria; wherein the universal bonus server is configured to provide the singular universal bonus to a first type of game having a first house to player edge, and a second type of game having a second house to player edge, the first house to player edge being smaller than the second house to player edge, and wherein in order to fund the singular universal bonus the universal bonus server is configured to take a portion of each wager from the first game and the second game, the portion taken from each wager of the first game being smaller than the portion taken from each wager of the second game.