Patent ID: 8366534

Claim:
A sweepstakes method for use with a gaming network having a plurality of gaming devices and a controller, the method comprising: determining via said controller characteristics of players gaming at a subset of said gaming devices; grouping via said controller the players in response to the players having a player characteristic meeting a promotional characteristic; monitoring via said controller gaming characteristics of said grouped players at said subset of said gaming devices; determining via said controller whether a said monitored gaming characteristic meets a sweepstakes characteristic; issuing a virtual sweepstakes ticket with respect to a said grouped player in response to said grouped player meeting said sweepstakes characteristic, said issuing adding a said virtual sweepstakes ticket to a pool of tickets; determining whether a pool closing threshold has been met; closing said pool of tickets to prevent adding of any additional virtual sweepstakes ticket to said pool in response to said pool closing threshold being met; randomly selecting at least one virtual sweepstakes ticket from said pool of tickets, the selected ticket serving as a winning ticket; and awarding a promotional award to said grouped player having said issued sweepstakes ticket.