Skill based lottery system

Abstract

The invention disclosed provides a gaming system that is based on the outcome of scheduled sporting events. The wagers are directed to a selected sporting event and represent either of the top six, five or four winners. Alternate embodiments involve an array of sporting events, and other embodiments involve different scoring schemes. A method is provided to assign sports participants to groups when the total number of participants is large.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for accepting a wager associated with a competition-based event, the method comprising:
 storing information in memory regarding a plurality of competition-based events, wherein each of the plurality of competition-based events is associated with a time window;   receiving a plurality of wagers associated with a selected one of the competition-based events, wherein each wager includes a selection of competitors in an order based on a criterion;   executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor:   
       determines that each wager was received within the time window associated with the selected competition-based event, 
       identifies a criterion-based order of winning competitors from information regarding an outcome of the selected competition-based event, 
       identifies matches between the identified criterion-based order of winning competitors and the user-selected and ordered competitors from each wager, and 
       determines an outcome associated with the wager based on the identified matches; and
 notifying the user of the determined outcome associated with the wager. 
 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of competition-based events includes sporting events. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the time window terminates when the competition-based event commences. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the outcome associated with the wager indicates a winning wager. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the outcome associated with the wager indicates a losing wager. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising calculating a payout for the user based on the outcome associated with the wager. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the notification is made by e-mail. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the notification is made by posting results on a website accessible by the user. 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for accepting a wager associated with a competition-based event, the method comprising:
 storing information in memory regarding a plurality of competition-based events, wherein each of the plurality of competition-based events is associated with a time window;   receiving a plurality of wagers associated with a selected one of the competition-based events, wherein each wager includes a selection of competitors in an order based on a criterion;   determining that each wager was received within the time window associated with the selected competition-based event,   identifying a criterion-based order of winning competitors from information regarding an outcome of the selected competition-based event,   identifying matches between the identified criterion-based order of winning competitors and the user-selected and ordered competitors from each wager, and determining an outcome associated with the wager based on the identified matches; and   notifying the user of the determined outcome associated with the wager.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of competition-based events includes sporting events. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the time window terminates when the competition-based event commences. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the outcome associated with the wager indicates a winning wager. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the outcome associated with the wager indicates a losing wager. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , further comprising calculating a payout for the user based on the outcome associated with the wager. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the notification is made by e-mail. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the notification is made by posting results on a website accessible by the user.