Gaming system and a method of managing bandwidth usage in a gaming network

1. A gaming system arranged to implement a plurality of games at a plurality of gaming machines located at a plurality of gaming venues, the gaming system comprising:

a plurality of gaming machines located at a plurality of gaming venues, each gaming venue having a plurality of associated gaming machines;

at least one server arranged to serve game play related data and non-game play related data to at least one gaming machine at each of said gaming venues;

a control device arranged to maintain a queue having queue filling levels, each queue filling level indicative of a level of game play related activity associated with each gaming venue; and

a resource control unit arranged to obtain information indicative of said queue filling levels and to control the level of non-game play related data served by said at least one server to the at least one gaming machine at a said gaming venue based on said queue filling level.

2. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one server comprises a game play related server and a non-game play related server.

3. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gaming system is arranged to maintain a low priority queue having a low priority queue filling level indicative of a level of non-game play related activity associated with each gaming venue, and the resource control unit is arranged to control the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine based on the low priority queue filling level.

4. A gaming system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the resource control unit is arranged to decrease the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine if the queue exceeds a high activity threshold.

5. A gaming system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the high activity threshold is 80% of a full low priority queue.

6. A gaming system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine is decreased only if the queue level exceeds a high activity threshold for a predetermined period of time.

7. A gaming system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the resource control unit is arranged to increase the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine if the queue filling level is less than a low activity threshold.

8. A gaming system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the low activity threshold is 40% of a full low priority queue.

9. A gaming system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine is increased only if the queue filling level is less than a low activity threshold for a predetermined period of time.

10. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gaming system is arranged to maintain a high priority queue having a high priority queue filling level indicative of a level of game play related activity associated with each gaming venue, and the resource control unit is arranged to control the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine based on the high priority queue filling level.

11. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the resource control unit is arranged to obtain data indicative of the number of gaming machines associated with the gaming venue logged into the gaming system.

12. A gaming system arranged to implement a plurality of games at a plurality of gaming machines located at a plurality of gaming venues, the gaming system comprising:

at least one server arranged to serve game play related data and non-game play related data to at least one gaming machine at each of said gaming venues;

a lookup table arranged to store values for allowed levels of non-game play related data associated with each gaming venue and data indicative of the number of gaming machines, associated with the gaming venue logged into the gaming system; and

a resource control unit arranged to extract a value for an allowed level of non-game play related data from the lookup table and to modify the allowed level of non-game play related data served to at least one gaming machine at a venue based on the extracted value.

13. A gaming system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the gaming system comprises a back office database arranged to store said lookup table.

14. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gaming system is arranged to establish a virtual communication channel to each gaming machine and to establish a VPN tunnel for each communication channel.

15. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one non-game play related server comprises an update server arranged to provide the gaming machines with updated software and a streaming data server arranged to provide the gaming machines with images and/or video.

16. A gaming system as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the streaming data server is arranged to provide the gaming machines with images, advertising images and/or video.

17. A method of managing bandwidth usage in a gaming system comprising a remote base station, a plurality of gaming machines located at a plurality of gaming venues and a communications network arranged to facilitate communications between the remote base station and the gaming machines, the method comprising:

serving game play related data to at least one gaming machine during implementation of a game;

serving a non-game play related data to at least one gaming machine;

obtaining data indicative of the available bandwidth between the communications network and each gaming venue and of the number of logged-in gaming machines associated with the gaming venue, said obtaining data including providing a lookup table arranged to store values for allowed levels of non-game play related data for available bandwidth and number of logged-in gaming machines; and

controlling the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine through the communications network by the at least one non-game play related server based on the obtained data, said controlling including extracting a value for an allowed level of non-game play related data from the lookup table, and modifying the allowed level of non-game play related data for a venue based on the extracted value.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17 , comprising maintaining a queue having a queue filling level indicative of a level of non-game play and/or game play related activity associated with each gaming venue, and controlling the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine based on the queue filling level.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18 , comprising maintaining a low priority queue having a low priority queue filling level indicative of a level of non-game play related activity associated with each gaming venue, and controlling the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine based on the low priority queue filling level.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 , comprising decreasing the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine if the queue exceeds a high activity threshold.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20 , wherein the high activity threshold is 80% of a full low priority queue.

22. A method as claimed in claim 20 , comprising decreasing the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine only if the queue level exceeds a high activity threshold for a predetermined period of time.

23. A method as claimed in claim 19 , comprising increasing the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine if the queue filling level is less than a low activity threshold.

24. A method as claimed in claim 23 , wherein the low activity threshold is 40% of a full low priority queue.

25. A method as claimed in claim 23 , comprising increasing the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine if the queue filling level is less than a low activity threshold for a predetermined period of time.

26. A method as claimed in claim 18 , comprising maintaining a high priority queue having a high priority queue filling level indicative of a level of game play related activity associated with each gaming venue, and controlling the level of non-game play related data served to the at least one gaming machine based on the high priority queue filling level.

27. A method as claimed in claim 17 , comprising providing a back office database arranged to store said lookup table.

28. A method as claimed in claim 17 , comprising establishing a virtual communication channel to each gaming machine and establishing a VPN tunnel for each communication channel.

29. A method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the non-game play related data comprises updated software.

30. A method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the non-game play related data comprises advertising images and/or video.