Patent ID: 8057301

Claim:
A method of conducting a wagering game on a gaming machine configured to receive wagers and to award prizes based on outcomes of a wagering game, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a first wager of a first wager value greater than zero from a player on the gaming machine, the first wager value being used to establish player participation in the game, the player participation comprising (i) participation to win a regular payout, and (ii) participation to win a progressive prize according to a probability; in addition to the first wager, receiving a second wager of a second wager value greater than zero, and establishing, based on the second wager value, a level of enhancement of the progressive prize without influencing the probability of the player to win the progressive prize; incrementing a current value of the progressive prize using at least a portion of the first wager value; in response to incrementing, calculating an enhanced progressive prize value based on (i) the current value of the progressive prize; and (ii) the level of enhancement of the progressive prize established based on the second wager value; generating a game outcome; evaluating said game outcome against winning criteria for the game to establish if the player wins any of the regular payout and the progressive prize; awarding a payout to said player on the gaming machine, the payout being the sum of (i) the regular payout; and (ii) the enhanced progressive prize value when the progressive prize is won.