Patent ID: 8328635

Claim:
A system for rewarding members of a player group with a shared award in response to play by an award winner during play of a wagering game, the system comprising: a database configured to store personal interest information regarding a plurality of players, wherein the personal interest information places each of the plurality of players into one or more player groups; an identification element, having identification data associated therewith, the identification element used to identify each of the plurality of players when participating in gaming activity; one or more computer servers configured to: determine the identity of at least one player who is an award winner by randomly selecting the at least one player from the plurality of players; determine at least one player group to which the award winner belongs by; determine a winning player group by randomly selecting the winning player group from the at least one player group to which the award winner belongs; determine at least one other player to share the award by randomly selecting the at least one other player from the winning player group; distribute at least a portion of the award to the award winner; and distribute at least a portion of the award to the at least one other player.