Patent ID: 7818205

Claim:
A method of providing a user with a game of chance, the method comprising the steps of: receiving electronic signals from a user system representing search parameters descriptive of a product; retrieving at least one product information from at least one database storing independent third-party retail vendor product information; transmitting electronic signals to the user system representing the retrieved product information and associated prices; automatically providing the user with an option to play a game to win a selected product from said product information without the user first making any payment or requesting the option; electronically calculating a dynamic probability of winning the selected product by the user based on one or more factors selected from a group consisting of: the cost of the selected product in relation to the total cost of all products available, a current prize budget, a ratio of the current prize budget to a total amount of funds received, and the user's behavior during a user session; electronically and randomly generating a trial outcome of an event trial, the probability of the event trial generating a winning trial outcome corresponding to the calculated probability of winning; generating an outcome indicator, wherein the outcome indicator is generated independently of the trial outcome, and wherein the outcome indicator is representative of a winning trial outcome or a losing trial outcome, and further wherein the outcome indicator for a winning trial outcome has a distribution associated with a first statistical distribution and the trial outcome has a distribution associated with a second statistical distribution, and further wherein the first statistical distribution has a distribution which is different from the second statistical distribution; and displaying the outcome indicator to the user; and in response to a winning trial outcome, purchasing the selected product for the user from the independent third-party retail vendor at no cost to the user.