Systems and methods for contest funds management

Abstract

Systems and methods to provide players with the ability fund a contest purse for an online video game competition, or other type of contest between players. The funds are sourced from financial accounts that are associated with each player. Upon conclusion of the contest and the determination of a winner, the funds that were held in the contest purse are transferred to the financial account of the contest winner.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-based method of contest funds management, the method performed by one or more computing devices comprising instructions stored in a memory, which when executed by one or more processors of the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform the method comprising:
 storing in computer memory of the one or more computing devices, a first player account for a first player, wherein the first player account is associated with a first financial account holding funds, wherein the first financial account is associated with a first payment vehicle, and where funds held in the first financial account are usable by the first player for payment transactions via the first payment vehicle;   storing in computer memory of the one or more computing devices, a second player account for a second player, wherein the second player account is associated with a second financial account holding funds, wherein the second financial account is associated with a second payment vehicle, and where funds held in the second financial account are usable by the second player for payment transactions via the second payment vehicle;   receiving via network communications from at least one of a first player computing device and a second player computing device a contest funds request associated with a contest to be played by the first and second player, wherein the contest funds request identifies an amount of first player contest funds and an amount of second player contest funds;   responsive to receiving the contest funds request, placing a first authorization hold on an amount of funds in the first financial account corresponding to the amount of first player contest funds and placing a second authorization hold on an amount of funds in the second financial account corresponding to the amount of second player contest funds;   subsequent to the conclusion of the contest, receiving an indication of a winner of the contest, wherein the winner is either the first player or the second player;   removing the first authorization hold on the amount of funds in the first financial account;   removing the second authorization hold on the amount of funds in the second financial account;   when the first player is indicated as the winner, causing the transfer of funds from the second financial account to the first financial account, wherein the amount of transferred funds corresponds to the amount of second player contest funds; and   when the second player is indicated as the winner, causing the transfer of funds from the first financial account to the second financial account, wherein the amount of transferred funds corresponds to the amount of first player contest funds.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 1 , wherein the first financial account is a prepaid account and the first payment vehicle is a first general purposes reloadable payment card and the second financial account is a prepaid account and the second payment vehicle is a second general purposes reloadable payment card. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 1 , wherein a value of a contest purse associated with the contest corresponds to the combined amount first player contest funds and amount of second player contest funds. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first financial account and the second financial account are maintained by a financial institution. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 1 , wherein the first payment vehicle is a general purpose reloadable card and wherein the second payment vehicle is a general purpose reloadable card. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 1 , wherein the first financial account is funded from one or more funding sources of the first player and the second prepaid account is funded from one or more funding sources of the second player. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 1 , wherein the contest is an online video game competition between the first player and the second player. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 1 , wherein the contest is subject to player defined rules agreed to by each of the first player and the second player. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 subsequent to receiving the indication of the winner, receiving an indication of a contest dispute and delaying the transferring of funds until the dispute is resolved.   
     
     
         10 . A computer-based method contest funds management, comprising:
 storing, by a contest funds management computing system, a plurality of player accounts for each of a plurality of players, wherein each of the plurality of player accounts is associated with a respective financial account holding funds, wherein each financial account is associated with respective payment vehicle issued to the respective player, and wherein funds held in each of the financial accounts are usable for payment transactions via use of the payment vehicle associated with the financial account;   communicating, by the contest funds management computing system, with a plurality of player computing devices via network communications, wherein the plurality of player computing devices comprises a first player computing device of a first player and a second player computing device of a second player;   receiving, by the contest funds management computing system from each the first player computing device and the second player computing device a contest funds request associated with a contest to be played by the first and second players, wherein the contest funds request from the first player computing device identifies an amount of first player contest funds and the contest funds request from the second player computing device identifies an amount of second player contest funds;   causing, by the contest funds management computing system, a first authorization hold to be placed on an amount of funds in a first financial account corresponding to the amount of first player contest funds and a second authorization hold to be placed on an amount of funds in a second financial account corresponding to the amount of second player contest funds wherein the first and second financial accounts are associated with each of the first and second player, respectively;   subsequent to the conclusion of the contest, receiving, by the contest funds management computing system, an indication of a winner of the contest, wherein the winner is either the first player or the second player;   removing, by the contest funds management computing system, the first authorization hold to be placed on an amount of funds in a first financial account;   removing, by the contest funds management computing system, the second authorization hold to be placed on an amount of funds in a first financial account;   when the first player is indicated as the winner, causing, by the contest funds management computing system, the transfer of funds from the second financial account to the first financial account; and   when the second player is indicated as the winner, causing, by the contest funds management computing system, the transfer of funds from the first financial account to the second financial account.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 10 , wherein the contest is subject to player defined rules agreed to by each of the first player and the second player. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 10 , wherein a value of a contest purse corresponds to the combined amount first player contest funds and amount of second player contest funds. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of player accounts are maintained by a financial institution. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-based method of contest funds management of  claim 10 , wherein the first payment vehicle is a general purpose reloadable card and wherein the second payment vehicle is a general purpose reloadable card. 
     
     
         15 . A contest funds management system, comprising:
 a financial institution maintaining funds in a first financial account for a first player and funds in a second financial account for a second player wherein the first financial account is associated with a first payment vehicle issued to the first player and the second financial account is associated with a second payment vehicle issued to the second player;   a contest funds management computing system in networked communication with the financial institution, the contest funds management computing system comprising instructions stored in a memory, which when executed by one or more processors of the contest funds management computing system, cause the contest funds management computing system to:
 store in the computer memory a first player account for the first player, wherein the first player account is associated with the first financial account; 
 store in the computer memory a second player account for the second player, wherein the second player account is associated with a second financial account; 
 receive a contest funds request associated with a contest to be played by the first and second player, wherein the contest funds request identifies an amount of first player contest funds and an amount of second player contest funds; 
 place a first authorization hold on an amount of funds in the first financial account corresponding to the amount of first player contest funds; 
 place a second authorization hold on an amount of funds in the second financial account corresponding to the amount of second player contest funds; and 
 subsequent to the conclusion of the contest, removing the first and second authorization holds and causing either (i) the transfer of funds from the second financial account to the first financial account if the first player won the contest or (ii) the transfer of funds from first financial account to the second financial account if the second player won the contest. 
   
     
     
         17 . The contest funds management system of claim  16 , wherein the contest is subject to player defined rules agreed to by each of the first player and the second player. 
     
     
         17 . The contest funds management system of  claim 15 , wherein an indication of an outcome of the contest is received by the contest funds management computing system from at least one of the first player computing device and the second player computing device via network communications. 
     
     
         18 . The contest funds management system of  claim 15 , further comprising a hosted contest environment and wherein the contest funds request is associated with an online video game competition between the first player and the second player in the hosted contest environment 
     
     
         19 . The contest funds management system of  claim 18 , wherein the hosted contest environment is not in communication with the contest funds management computing system. 
     
     
         20 . The contest funds management system of  claim 18 , wherein the hosted contest environment comprises the contest funds management computing system.