Single sign-on for wager gaming players over a wide-area network

摘要

When the player identifies herself to a gaming machine at a casino, for example by inserting a player tracking card into the card reader, she is, at generally the same time, logging onto a game provider's backend system (the game provider being different from the casino operator). This concurrent sign-on to the game provider's system is done in a non-intrusive, transparent, and passive manner. The player is not distracted from the normal steps leading to game play on the machine until she is ready to redeem points with the game provider or for some reason additional authentication is needed from the player. By virtue of this single sign-on to the game provider network, in addition to continuing game play across different casinos, the player can publish events to the Internet, such as on social networking sites, take advantage of offers targeted specifically for her, or facilitate responsible gaming programs.

主权项

1. A method of logging a player into a gaming network from a gaming machine, the method comprising:
causing at least one processor to receive, at a service provider identification system, a notification message including an enterprise player identifier from the gaming machine, the gaming machine located in a casino and the gaming machine including at least one display device supported by a housing and a plurality of input devices supported by the housing, said plurality of input devices including: (i) an acceptor of a first physical item associated with a first monetary value, (ii) a validator configured to identify the first physical item, and (iii) a cashout device configured to receive an input to cause an initiation of a payout associated with a credit balance, the enterprise player identifier is a casino-specific identifier assigned by the casino to the player; causing the at least one processor to resolve the enterprise player identifier to a federated player identifier, wherein the federated player identifier is associated with a plurality of different enterprise player identifiers; causing the at least one processor to transmit the federated player identifier to the gaming machine; and causing the at least one processor to utilize the federated player identifier to retrieve game-specific status data to be utilized on the gaming machine, wherein the player can access a profile from a participating enterprise.