Patent ID: 8012009

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: at least one gaming table including: a support structure, at least one display device supported by the support structure, a table top supported by the support structure, said table top including a plurality of player stations and configured such that upon a wager of a first form of casino currency, a primary wagering game can be played on the table top, wherein any determined primary wagering game award is provided to a player in the first form of casino currency and said primary wagering game has an average expected payback percentage, and at least one gaming table processor configured to operate with said at least one display device; and a controller configured to operate with said at least one gaming table, wherein said controller is programmed, upon an occurrence of a loyalty award sequence triggering event, to: (a) determine a theoretical loyalty award value associated with a loyalty award sequence, wherein said theoretical loyalty award value is based on information associated with the player received from a player tracking system and the theoretical loyalty award value is independent of the average expected payback percentage of the primary wagering game; and (b) communicate information based on the determined theoretical loyalty award value associated with the loyalty award sequence to the gaming table; wherein upon receiving information based on the determined theoretical value associated with the triggered loyalty award sequence, at least one of the gaming table processor and the controller are programmed to: (i) cause the determined loyalty award sequence to be provided to the player; (ii) determine an actual loyalty award value associated with the provided loyalty award sequence, wherein said determined actual value is based on the average expected payback percentage of said primary wagering game; and (iii) provide the determined actual loyalty award value to the player, wherein said determined actual loyalty award value is provided to the player in a different, second form of casino currency.