Patent ID: 8622806

Claim:
A system for providing an instant-close casino tournament such that an actual casino player is always the last casino player to enter the tournament, comprising: a plurality of casino gaming machines, wherein at least a first gaming machine enables play of a first base game that has a first theoretical payout percentage, and wherein at least a second gaming machine enables play of a second base game that has a second theoretical payout percentage; a communication link connecting the plurality of casino gaming machines, wherein the instant-close casino tournament has a number of player spots; a casino tournament controller connected to the communication link, wherein the casino tournament controller is configured to execute the casino tournament; and a casino tournament history table that stores previous casino tournament information for a plurality of previous players in the casino tournament, wherein, when determined by the system, the previous casino tournament information is selected by the casino tournament controller to configure one or more simulated casino players in the casino tournament to fill each player spot in the tournament, except for a final player spot that is filled by the actual casino player, thereby ensuring that the actual casino player is the last player to enter and join the casino tournament; wherein calculation of each tournament score uses the theoretical payout percentage from each respective base game.