Patent ID: 8579703

Claim:
A method of operating one or more games of chance for a plurality of players with one or more computers, comprising: identifying at least two players participating in a selected one of the games of chance at the expiration of a predetermined time period at the beginning of every game of chance; establishing at the one or more computers a wager pool for each selected game of chance, the wager pool including a total of wager amounts from each of the identified players at one or more locations; reducing the wager pool by a takeout amount that corresponds to a predetermined percentage or amount of the wager pool; generating one or more random numbers; determining one or more winners of the selected game of chance based on the one or more random numbers; calculating the amount of winnings for the determined one or more winners using a non-fixed odds payout amount in which players compete with one another in the selected game of chance for winnings; and distributing, at the end of each game of chance, the funds from the wager pool for each wager type to the determined one or more winners of the selected game of chance, wherein a portion of a player's wager is not deducted as a takeout amount at a player terminal but instead is deducted when the player's wager is combined with wager amounts from other players to establish the wager pool, wherein the games of chance operate continuously in pre-established time sequences, wherein players cannot alter a start time of the offered games of chance from any player terminal, and wherein a monetary value that corresponds to the funds of the wager pool that are distributed at the end of each game of chance to the one or more winners does not change in monetary value based on winnings made in previous and future games of chance participated in by one or more of the plurality of players.