Patent ID: 8753198

Claim:
An electronic reservation controller for a gaming system having a plurality of gaming terminals each configured for play of at least one game by a first player during at least one of a plurality of game sessions, and for use with a reservation terminal remotely located from the reservation controller and connected to the reservation controller via a communications network, the reservation controller comprising: a reservation processor configured to receive a reservation request via the reservation terminal, the reservation request comprising at least two reservation parameters, a first reservation parameter representative of a reservation time starting in the future and a second reservation parameter representative of a game; an evaluator configured to process the reservation request so as to determine whether the reservation request is acceptable; an implementer configured to select, if the reservation request is acceptable, one gaming terminal of the plurality of gaming terminals for play of the game represented by the second reservation parameter, and reserve that selected said one gaming terminal for the first player at the time starting in the future represented by the first reservation parameter, and wherein the implementer is configured to determine whether a second player of said one gaming terminal is affected by the reservation request; and a compensator configured to determine whether to award compensation to the second player.