WO2001068204A1

WO2001068204A1 - Event contest method

Info

Publication number: WO2001068204A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/008341
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bob Herman
Original assignee: Bob Herman
Priority date: 2000-03-15
Filing date: 2001-03-14
Publication date: 2001-09-20
Also published as: AU2001243681A1

Abstract

The present invention is a contest decided by the outcome of an event. The contest includes a participant selecting a subset (12) of predetermined size from a finite pool of event competitors. Optionally, the participant places a wager (10) to participate. Optionally, the participant's selections are ranked (14). At a predetermined point in the event, an index (18) is calculated for each participant based on the aggregate performance of the participant's selected subset. Each index is calculated by summing a statistic generated during the event for each of the participant's selections. Participants are ordered by index and, optionally, a predetermined number of participants are awarded prizes. Tied indexes (20) are resolved by comparing the statistics of competitors in the tied subsets (22). Optionally, the comparison is in the order in which the participants ranked the selections (24). Optionally, the reward is derived by pooling wagers (26).

Description

EVENT CONTEST METHOD

Related Application Data

The present application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Application

Serial No. 60/189,415 entitled "Event Wagering Method" filed March 15, 2000 by

Applicant herein.

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to event contest methods. Specifically, the

present invention is a method for conducting a contest, the outcome of which is

determined by an event or set of events, such as sporting events, where a participant

selects a subset of competitors and contest winners are decided by the aggregate

performance of the competitors within the participant's subset.

Background of the Invention

There are various techniques and games known in the prior art for

individuals to wager on sporting events. For example, it is known to provide what

are commonly referred to as "rotisserie baseball leagues" or "fantasy leagues" as

described in Pearson, U.S. Patent No. 5,971,854. In such leagues, the participants of

the games select or draft the names of professional players to be on their fantasy

team. During the course of the sporting season, points are awarded to each

participant based on certain tracked statistics for the players selected to the

participant's team. For example, in a fantasy baseball league, statistics such as runs

batted in, batting average, earned run average, strike outs and the like for each player may be tracked and used during the season to award points to the participants'

fantasy teams. The participant having the team with the greatest aggregate statistics

wins the contest and, in certain embodiments, is awarded a prize. These fantasy

leagues have been played many sports such as football, hockey, basketball, and the

like.

Such fantasy leagues, however, do not feature wagering upon the actual

outcome of one or more actual sporting events. That is, in a fantasy league, a

participant selects the best players for his or her fantasy team without regard to any

player's team record because the player's team record is irrelevant to the

participant's score. If a participant wishes to wager on the outcome of a particular

sporting event, a participant must play a different game or contest.

To accommodate those wishing to wager on the outcome of a sporting event,

it is known in the art for a host or casino to book futures or proposition wagers

related to specified outcomes concerning certain sporting events. For purely

entertainment purposes or in certain jurisdictions which permit sports wagering, it is

known to provide future proposition wagers for sporting events. These include

wagers on the eventual winner, the final score, or any specific statistic. As an

example, a casino sports book may provide a listing of future proposition wagers

and posted odds for each participating golfer in a golf tournament. A participant

wishing to wager on the tournament would place a wager and select a specific golfer

that the participant believes will win. Typically in exchange for the wager, the

participant will receive a ticket or stub indicating that the wager has been made. If

the golfer wins, the participant claims his reward by presenting the ticket stub. The

participant is paid at the posted odds. Another form of this common wager available at casino sports books, for

example, is a wager on the outcome of a particular game. To maintain parity on

both sides of the wager, that is, to insure that gamblers are more or less equally divided between two competing teams, casinos utilize mechanisms such as a point

spread or odds. The point spread is a number calculated by the casino to be the winning margin. For example, if a gambler wagers on a game in which Team A is

favored by five points, five points is the point spread. For the gambler to win the wager, Team A must not only win, but must additionally win by more than five

points. If Team A loses or wins by five or fewer points, the gambler loses the wager.

With respect to the examples discussed above, there are several aspects of the

wager according to the prior art which increase the gambler's risk. First and

foremost is that sport books treat each game or tournament as a separate event. In

other words, unless the participant plays parlay cards, as described hereinafter, wagers on different games are resolved separately. For example, a participant that

wagers on five football games must select five winners to win all five wagers.

To alleviate this problem somewhat, parlay cards have been created to reduce

the participant's risk. In a parlay card, a participant selects the winners for a

predetermined number of games. For example, in a ten game parlay, a participant selects the winners in ten different games. If the participant correctly selects a

predetermined number of winners, the player is rewarded. In the example above, ten

correct out of ten selections may entitle a participant to a first prize, nine correct out

of ten selections may entitle a participant to a second prize, and so forth. One drawback of parlay cards is that parlay cards still utilize point spreads. Thus, as stated above, it is not enough to project the winner, but a participant must

also project whether the winner will beat the point spread. The point spread is often

a source of frustration for sports bettors for the very reason that a participant may correctly select the winning team but the winning team may not beat the point

spread, resulting in a loss of the wager. Thus, it is often disadvantageous for a

participant to select a "sure thing" because the point spread associated with that game or event is calculated by the sports book to be sizeable to attract wagers on

both sides. Even in sports not utilizing a point spread, such as golf tournaments or

horse racing, odds are used to encourage gamblers to allocate wagers among several

different possible winners. These limitations and drawbacks exists for many sports or events such as horse racing, e.g. future propositions as to the horse which will win, place or show at the Kentucky Derby, team sports such as hockey, soccer,

baseball and basketball, basketball tournaments such as the National Collegiate

Athletic Association ("NCAA") basketball tournament, golf tournaments, Olympic events and other events where a favorite must overcome a point spread or poor odds

to result in a winning wager.

Therefore, it can be seen that there is a need in the art for an event contest

system the outcome of which is determined by the outcome of an event in which

participants are encouraged to allocate their selections among several different

possible outcomes without resort to point spreads or odds.

Summary of the Invention The contest of the present invention includes a participant selecting, from a

finite pool of competitors, a subset consisting of a predetermined number of

competitors. As examples, each participant may select five golfers from the entrants

in a golf tournament or five football teams that the participant expects to win from a

pool of twenty football games, that is, forty football teams. In an embodiment

including head to head competition, a participant may be excluded from selecting

competitors competing head to head. Thus, in the example above, participants

wagering on golf could select any five golfers from the finite pool of entrants

whereas participants wagering on football would be excluded from selecting both

competitors in a single football game.

At a predetermined point in the sporting event or events, such as after the

sporting event or events are completed, an outcome is generated by calculating an

index for each participant. Each index is calculated by summing a statistic generated

during the sporting event or events for each of the participant's selections. For

example, in an optional embodiment, the statistic may be the margin of victory.

Alternatively, the statistic used may be the score. The participants are ordered by

index and a predetermined number of participants are awarded prizes. In the event

of a tie, the tied participants' selections are compared and one or more selections

differentiating the participants' subsets are determined. Tied participants are then

ordered according to the statistic for the differentiating selection. In a further

optional embodiment, participants rank their selections and tied indexes are resolved

by comparing the statistics in the order of the ranked selections. Again, tied

participants are then ordered according to the statistic for the differentiating ranked selection. In other words, if two or more participants have the same index, the

statistics for the tied participants' ranked selections are compared.

In an optional embodiment, the reward is pari-mutual. That is, in an optional

embodiment, the wagers are pooled, a percentage is deducted from the pooled

wagers to be retained by the contest operator, and the remaining pool is divided

among the winner or winners.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for operating a

contest in which participants select a subset from a finite pool of competitors in an

event, the winning participant determined by the cumulative performance of the

subset during an event.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method according to the present

invention.

Description

Reference is now made to the figures wherein like parts are referred to by

like numerals throughout. It is important to note that the method of the present

invention could be utilized in person at a sports book or in a sports pool or could be

incorporated into software operating on a general purpose computer, gaming

machine, or kiosk operating independently or networked with other general purpose

computers, gaming machines, or kiosks. For example, in one optional embodiment,

the method of the present invention could be embodied in software based at a server

communicating with participants' general purpose computers over the Internet.

Similarly, in an alternate optional embodiment, the method could be incorporated

into software residing on a plurality of terminals, such as gaming machines, kiosks,

or general purpose computers communicating over a network such as a local area

network ("LAN") or wide-area network ("WAN').

With reference to FIG. 1, the method of the present invention applies to

competition events, optionally sporting events, of the type with a finite number of

competitors. For example, the competition event or events could be a tournament,

such as golf or tennis, or a set of competitive games, such as the National Collegiate

Athletic Association ("NCAA") basketball tournament or the schedule of National

Football League ("NFL") games for a given day. It is also contemplated that the

competitors in the method of the present invention could be individuals, teams,

individual members of teams, or the like. Examples of events having finite numbers

of competitors that could be used with the method of the present invention are given

in Tables 1 and 2 below. Table 1

Table 2

U.S. Open

Tiger Woods

Phil Mickelson

Greg Norman

Nick Faldo

Jack Nicklaus

John Daly

Nick Price

David Duval

The present method could be played as a wagering game, such as at a sports

book or in a sports pool. Alternatively, the method could be played as a promotion,

contest, or the like in which players are not required to make a wager. While the

examples below describe a wagering game, it is contemplated that the present method may not require the placing of a wager or the rewarding of a prize.

Therefore, the examples below should be considered exemplary and not restrictive.

According to one optional embodiment of the method of the present

invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a participant makes a wager 10 and selects a

predetermined number (ri) of competitors from the finite set 12. In the example of

Table 1, on a day with a schedule of eight college football games each participant

may be allowed to select five teams as shown in Table 3.

Table 3

When used in conjunction with an event featuring head to head competitions, the

participants may optionally be restricted from selecting teams playing against each

other. For example, if a game between Tennessee and Alabama is among the finite

set, a participant may be restricted from selecting both Tennessee and Alabama.

Alternatively, when used in conjunction with an event with a tournament-type

format such as that shown in Table 2, a participant may be allowed to select a fixed

number of competitors from the set of competitors as shown in Table 4. Table 4

The participant records the participant's selections. In an optional software

embodiment, the recordation may optionally include storing participants' selections

in a database. In an optional embodiment, the participant may also rank 14 the

selections as shown in Tables 5 and 6 for use in an optional tie-breaking procedure

described below.

Table 5

Table 6

With continued reference to FIG. 1, at a predetermined point in the event or events wagered upon, such as completion 16 of the event or events, halftime, or the

like, an index (I) is calculated 18 for each participant based on the aggregate

performance of all the participant's selections. Thus, the index (I) is calculated using one or more selected statistics (s_x) generated by a competitor's performance in

the event or events. It is contemplated that any statistic or group of statistics (sA generated during the event or events could be used. It is likewise contemplated that

individual or team statistics (s_x) could be used. For example, where each participant

selects n competitors and the event or events generate a statistic (s_x) for each of the

competitors (n), the index (I) is given by the following formula:

x=\

In an optional embodiment in which individual players in a team event are

the finite pool of competitors, the statistic (s_x) could be any statistic or any group of

statistics (s_x) maintained in the event or game. In such an example, rather than

selecting the competitor who will win, the object may optionally be to select the competitors projected to perform the best without regard to that competitor's team's

performance, e.g. top scorers for a particular day's slate of games. In an

embodiment in which a group of statistics are used for each competitors, e.g. top

scorers/rebounders for a particular day's slate of games, the group of statistics for

each competitor could be reduced to a single aggregate statistic (s_x) for that

competitor by summing, weighted summing, or the like before calculating an index

(I) for the participant's subset.

In another optional embodment, final score or margin of victory (or loss)

may optionally be used as the statistic (s_x) and the index (I) may be the sum of the

final scores or margins of victory or loss. In such an alternate embodiment, the

object may be to select the competitors that will win or win by the largest margin,

respectively. In the college football example of Tables 1, 3, and 5 above, an index

(/) may be calculated using the sum of the margins of victory or loss as shown in

Table 7.

Table 7

Similarly, in the example of Tables 2, 4, and 6, the final score is used as the statistic

(s_x) and the index (/) is given by the sum of the final scores as shown in Table 8. Table 8

As shown in FIG. 1, the participants are ordered 24 by index (I) and a

predetermined number of participants are rewarded. It is worth noting that the

ordering of participants by index (I) will depend on the type of event and the statistic

(s_x) used to calculate the index (I). Thus, where margin of victory is the statistic (s_x)

used, the greatest index (I) may be the winner. Similarly, when final score is the statistic (s_x) used, the greatest index (I) is the winner unless, like golf, better scores

are lower, in which case, the lowest index (I) is the winner. Thus, in the example of

Table 7, the winner is Participant 1, Participant 2 is second, and Participant 3 is

third.

Likewise, in the example of Table 8, Participant 1 and Participant 3 tie for

first place, and Participant 2 is second place. When two or more participants tie

indexes (I) 20, the tie is broken by comparing the tied participant's selections to

determine the distinguishing selections. The distinguishing selections are then

compared and the tied participants are ordered according to the statistics of the

distinguishing selections.

In a further optional embodiment, the participants' ranked selections are

serially compared 22 according to rankings until a selection differentiates the tied

participants. Thus, in the example of Table 8, the statistics (s_x) for each participants'

first ranked selections are compared. Comparing the statistic for the first selection

(s , the first selections had the same score, -15. Consequently, the statistics second

selections (s₂) are compared. Similarly, because the second selections also had the

same score, -7, the statistics for the third selections (s₃) are compared. In comparing

the statistics for the third selections (s₃), however, it is noted that Participant 3's

third selection scored -6 whereas Participant l's third selection scored +1.

Participant 3 is ranked 24 higher than Participant 1 because Participant 3's third

selection generated a better statistic (s₃) than Participant l's third selection (recalling

that in golf, larger negative scores are desired). Thus, in the optional embodiment

utilizing rankings to break ties, it may be appreciated that participants should rank

14 the competitors higher if the participant believes that the competitor will generate the better statistic (s_x) among the selections. In other words, the participant ranks 14

his best selections higher than his marginal selections.

In an optional embodiment, a predetermined number of participants are

rewarded 26. Optionally, only the participant with the best index (I is rewarded.

Alternatively, a fixed number of the top participants are selected as winners with a

reward going to each of the winners. For example, the participants with the top

three indexes (I) may each receive a reward.

In an optional embodiment in which participants wager to participate in the

contest, the wagers are optionally pooled. In such an optional embodiment, the

operator of the present method may optionally take a percentage of the pooled

wagers and divide the remaining pool among the winning participants. As an

example, the operator could take fifteen percent of the pooled wagers. The operator

could then divide the remainder of the pooled wagers as follows: forty percent to

first place participant, thirty percent to the second place participant, twenty percent

to the third place participant, and ten percent to the fourth place participant.

While certain embodiments of the present invention have been shown and

described it is to be understood that the present invention is subject to many

modifications and changes without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims

presented herein.

Claims

I CLAIM:

1. A method for conducting a contest for a plurality of participants, the outcome

of said contest determined by a competition event in which a finite set of

competitors compete, each competitor's performance generating at least one statistic

during said competition event, comprising:

each participant selecting a subset of predetermined size from among said

finite set of competitors, the subset including at least two competitors;

at a predetermined point during said sporting event, computing an index for

each participant by summing the statistics associated with each competitor in each

participant's subset;

ordering participants according to said index; and

resolving ties among participants by comparing competitors in the tied

participants' subsets and, if a selection differentiates the tied participants, ordering

the tied participants according to the statistics of the differentiating selection.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

each participant ranking the competitors in the participant's subset whereby

in resolving ties, competitors in the tied participants' subsets are serially comparing

by ranking and, if a selection differentiates the tied participants, ordering the tied

participants according to the statistics of the differentiating selection.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

each participant placing a wager; and

issuing a reward to a predetermined number of participants by order.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising pooling said wagers whereby said

reward is a predetermined portion of said pool.

5. A method for conducting a contest for a plurality of participants, the outcome

of said contest determined by a set of competition events in which a finite set of

competitors compete head to head, each competitor's performance generating at

least one statistic during said competition events, comprising:

each participant selecting a subset of predetermined size from among said

finite set of competitors, the subset including at least two competitors, said

participants excluded from selecting competitors competing head to head;

at a predetermined point during said sporting event, computing an index for

participant's subset;

ordering participants according to said index; and

resolving ties among participants by comparing competitors in the tied

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

each participant ranking the competitors in the participant's subset whereby

participants according to the statistics of the differentiating selection.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

each participant placing a wager; and

issuing a reward to a predetermined number of participants by order.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising pooling said wagers whereby said

reward is a predetermined portion of said pool.

9. A method for conducting a contest for a plurality of participants, the outcome

of said contest determined by the result of a competition event in which a finite set of competitors compete, each competitor's performance generating a statistic at the

completion of said competition event, comprising:

each participant placing a wager; each participant selecting a subset of predetermined size from among said

competitors, the subset including at least two competitors; each participant ranking the competitors in the participant's subset;

( upon completion of said^' sporting event, computing an index for each

participant according to the formula:

^I = Σ ^S _X x=\

where / is said index, s is said statistic for each competitor in a participant's subset,

and n is said predetermined number of competitors in the subset; ordering participants according to said index; resolving ties among participants by serially comparing competitors in the

tied participants' subsets by ranking and, if a selection differentiates the tied

participants, ordering the tied participants according to the statistics of the differentiating selection; and

rewarding a predetermined number of participants by order.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising pooling said wagers whereby said

reward is a predetermined portion of said pool.

11. A method for conducting a contest for a plurality of participants, the outcome

of said contest determined by the result of a set of competition events in which a

finite set of competitors compete head to head, each competitor's performance

generating a statistic at the completion of said competition events, comprising:

each participant placing a wager; each participant selecting a subset of predetermined size from among said competitors, the subset including at least two competitors, said participants excluded

from selecting competitors competing head to head;

each participant ranking the competitors in the participant's subset;

upon completion of said sporting event, computing an index for each

participant according to the formula

'= Σ ^Sx x=l where / is said index, s is said statistic for each competitor in a participant's subset,

and n is said predetermined number of competitors in a subset;

ordering participants according to said index;

resolving ties among participants by serially comparing competitors in the

participants, ordering the tied participants according to the statistics of the

differentiating selection; and

rewarding a predetermined number of participants by order.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising pooling said wagers whereby

said reward is a predetermined portion of said pool.