Patent ID: 7927210

Claim:
A method for providing an accounting service in a gaming network including gaming machines, the method comprising: sending service information for the accounting service from the accounting service to a discovery agent on the gaming network, wherein the accounting service provides a central store for meter information for one or more of a plurality of clients on the gaming network, the clients including a plurality of gaming machines, wherein in response to a wager at a gaming machine of the plurality of gaming machines the gaming machine depicts indicia representative of a randomly selected outcome of a wagering game; determining by the discovery agent if the accounting service is authentic and authorized; in response to determining that the accounting service is authentic and authorized, publishing service information to a service repository to make the accounting service available on the gaming network; receiving by the discovery agent a discovery request for the location of the accounting service from a client of the plurality of clients; returning the service information for the accounting service to the client; using the service information for registering by a gaming client with the accounting service; determining by the accounting service if the gaming client is authentic and authorized to use the accounting service; and processing one or more service requests between the gaming client and the accounting service, said service requests conforming to an internetworking protocol, wherein the requests include requests associated with meter information for at least one gaming machine.