Patent ID: 7204756

Claim:
A method for awarding at least a portion of a jackpot amount in a lottery game for a plurality of players, comprising: accepting an entry from each of the plurality of players for an occasion of the lottery game, each entry comprising a first subset of numbers selected from a predetermined range of numbers; determining an outcome for the occurrence of the lottery game, the outcome for the occurrence of the lottery game comprising a second subset of numbers selected from the predetermined range of numbers; comparing the first subset of numbers for each of the entries to the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game; determining the number of matched numbers for each entry between the first subset of numbers for the entry and the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game based on the comparison of the first subset of numbers for each entry of the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game; determining that none of the entries for the occurrence of the lottery game match every number in the first subset of numbers for the entry to a corresponding one of the numbers in the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game; awarding a share of the at least a portion of the jackpot amount to at least a portion of the entries for the occurrence of the lottery game wherein none of the numbers of the first subset of numbers of the entry match any of the numbers in the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game; determining the difference between each number of the first subset of numbers and a corresponding one of the numbers of the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game for each entry wherein none of the numbers of the first subset of numbers of the entry match any of the numbers in the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game; and awarding a share of the at least a portion of the jackpot amount to each of the entries for the occurrence of the lottery game wherein none of the numbers of the first subset of numbers of the entry match any of the numbers in the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game and the difference between each number of the first subset of numbers of the entry and the corresponding one of numbers of the second subset of numbers for the outcome of the lottery game is equal.