Patent ID: 8065394

Claim:
A method of using a local game-area network in a casino environment, wherein the local game-area network does not require support from a large casino floor network or back-end server system to enable group gaming, the method comprising: connecting a plurality of gaming device sub-systems in the local game-area network, each gaming device sub-system including a gaming device, a corresponding local game-area server, and a local game-area data storage medium; wherein each local game-area server is associated with a corresponding gaming device in each gaming device sub-system; and wherein each local game-area data storage medium is associated with a corresponding local game-area server in each gaming device sub-system; designating one of the local game-area servers as an active local game-area server that acts as host status while the remaining local game-area servers act as clients, wherein only a single local game-area server and local game-area data storage medium are used to support the plurality of gaming devices, and the other local game-area servers and local game-area data storage mediums in the plurality of gaming device sub-systems are inactive; and in response to the active local game-area server becoming non-operational, dynamically moving the host status of the active local game-area server to an available local game-area server acting as a client in the local game-area network; thereby facilitating sustained operation of the local game-area network when the active local game-area server having host status becomes non-operational.