Patent ID: 7578739

Claim:
A method performed by a gaming device comprising: generating an outcome of a primary game using a processor, the primary game generating at least one jackpot winning outcome and a plurality of non-jackpot winning outcomes, wherein the primary game comprises displaying a plurality of symbols in at least one row and in N columns on a video display device, wherein N is at least three, and wherein combinations of symbols across the N columns determine the at least one jackpot winning outcome and the plurality of non-jackpot winning outcomes, and wherein only some of the symbols are jackpot-incrementing symbols; simultaneously displaying a plurality of jackpots to a player on the video display device, each one of the N columns corresponding to a particular jackpot within the plurality of jackpots such that N jackpots are simultaneously displayed to the player; incrementing a particular one of the N jackpots corresponding to a particular one of the N columns when at least one of the jackpot-incrementing symbols is randomly displayed in a position in the particular one of the N columns; and awarding at least one of the N jackpots to a player by crediting a credit meter upon the player achieving a jackpot winning outcome, the N jackpots being incremented by the jackpot-incrementing symbols occurring in the N columns over a plurality of primary games.