Patent ID: 8021230

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a plurality of different gaming mediums, each gaming medium controlled by at least one gaming medium processor and configured to enable a play of a wagering game, wherein each wagering game is configured to operate upon a placement of a wager by a player and the plurality of gaming mediums are configured to be played by the plurality of players at a plurality of different rates during a bonus event accumulation period; and a controller configured to communicate with each of the plurality of different gaming mediums, the controller programmed to: (a) maintain an accumulated wager pool including at least the wagers placed on the wagering games played during the bonus event accumulation period, (b) randomly determine to provide at least one of a plurality of bonus awards to at least one of the plurality of players of the wagering games, wherein said determination is based at least in part on the accumulated wager pool and is independent of any event in any play of any of the wagering games played on the different gaming mediums, and (c) determine which gaming medium playing one of the wagering games will provide the bonus award based at least in part on the wagers placed on the wagering games, wherein the gaming medium processor for the selected gaming medium determines at least part, but not all, of the bonus award to be displayed and provided by said gaming medium selected by the controller and said determination of the bonus award to be displayed is independent of any wagering game outcomes determined in association with any of the plays of any of the wagering games of any of the gaming mediums.