Patent ID: 7967677

Claim:
A gaming system for providing a drawing promotion comprising: at least one location controller; a plurality of gaming devices, each gaming device operable to communicate with the location controller and including a primary game operable upon a wager placed by a player; and a central controller configured to communicate with the location controller and programmed to maintain a drawing promotion, wherein the drawing promotion includes a drawing prize and a plurality of drawing accounts, each drawing account configured to include a number of drawing entries; said location controller programmed to: (a) during a drawing period for the drawing promotion: (i) cause at least one of a plurality of players to be provided with a drawing account voucher associated with one of the drawing accounts; (ii) thereafter, receive player submission of the drawing account voucher to activate game play for drawing entry accrual for the drawing promotion; and (iii) thereafter, provide at least one of the drawing accounts a quantity of drawing entries which are separate from the drawing account voucher and are to be used for the drawing promotion, wherein the quantity of drawing entries is greater than zero; (b) transmit data regarding the drawing entries to the central controller; said central controller is further programmed to: upon expiration of the drawing period: (a) select one of the drawing entries from one of the drawing accounts; and (b) cause the drawing prize to be provided to one of the players associated with the selected drawing entry for the drawing prize.