Patent ID: 8282472

Claim:
A gaming system for providing a drawing promotion comprising: a plurality of gaming devices, each of the gaming devices including a primary game operable upon a wager placed by a player; and a central controller configured to: (a) maintain a drawing promotion, the drawing promotion including a drawing prize and a plurality of drawing accounts, each of the drawing accounts configured to include a number of drawing entries; (b) during a drawing period for the drawing promotion, for each of a plurality of players: (i) cause said player to be provided with a drawing account voucher associated with one of the drawing accounts, (ii) thereafter, operate with at least one input device of one of the gaming devices to receive said drawing account voucher from said player to activate game play at said gaming device for drawing entry accrual for the drawing promotion, (iii) thereafter, operate with said at least one input device of said gaming device to: (A) receive a wager from said player, (B) determine whether said received wager meets at least a wager threshold amount, and (C) if said received wager meets at least the wager threshold amount, provide said drawing account associated with said drawing account voucher received from said player with a quantity of drawing entries, said quantity of drawing entries being at least one, wherein the drawing entries are separate from the drawing account voucher and are to be used for the drawing promotion, and (c) upon expiration of the drawing period: (i) select one of the drawing entries from one of the drawing accounts, and (ii) cause the drawing prize to be provided to the player associated with the drawing account including said selected drawing entry.