Wagering system including tournament mode and third party bettor interface

1. A method of operating a gaming system, the method including:

(a) under control of a tournament controller, enabling a group of gaming machines connected to the tournament controller over a network to participate in a competition operating mode including group play;

(b) during the competition operating mode, providing a competition wager interface under control of the tournament controller or a tournament wagering controller connected to the tournament controller, including a first players remaining interface display area showing a group of currently remaining gaming machines in the competition and their point totals and enabling selection of one or more of the currently remaining gaming machines to wager upon, and a second wagering interface display area controlled by the selection of the one or more currently remaining gaming machines and presenting a group of potential wagers to be made on an eventual outcome of the competition, at least some of the potential wagers presented with a target point total and calculated wager odds of reaching said target point total;

(c) enabling at least one device to access the competition wager interface and allow a first bettor on the device to view, make selections, and activate wagers on the eventual outcome of the competition through the competition wager interface, the device comprising a device remote to the gaming system or one of the gaming machines with the wagering interface display area displayed on a secondary display; and

(d) awarding a prize to the first bettor based on winning their activated wager.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the second wagering interface display area includes a graphical meter presented indicating a current point score associated with the selection of the one or more currently remaining gaming machines.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling at least one handheld device to access the competition wager interface and allowing second bettor on the handheld device to view, make selections, and activate wagers on the eventual outcome of the competition through the competition wager interface.

4. The method of claim 1 , further including simultaneously displaying a leader board at a respective display system of at least one of the gaming machines converted to the competition operating mode, the leader board including current relative positions of participants in the group play, the leader board further including an indication of how much bettor wagering is backing the respective participants in the group play.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the indication of how much bettor wagering is backing the respective participants in the group play includes a numerical bettor indicator adjacent to a symbol or video feed representing the respective participants in the group play and showing a total amount wagered on the respective participant by bettors.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the competition wager interface includes an indication of how much bettor wagering is backing the respective participants in the group play, the first players remaining interface display area including an option activatable by the bettor to sort the players remaining by amount wagered on the respective players remaining.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first players remaining interface display area includes a video feed of the respective players remaining.

8. A tournament gaming system including:

(a) a plurality of gaming machines;

(b) each gaming machine including a video camera operable to generate a player video feed of a player at the respective gaming machine;

(c) a tournament controller operable to selectively instruct one or more of the gaming machines over a network, the tournament controller or a tournament wagering controller connected to the tournament controller further operable to provide a competition wager interface for wagering by a bettor on a tournament outcome by:

(i) configuring at least some of the gaming machines to work in a competition operating mode for group play;

(ii) during the competition operating mode, providing a competition wager interface under control of the tournament controller or a tournament wagering controller connected to the tournament controller, including a first players remaining interface display area showing a group of currently remaining gaming machines in the competition and their point totals and enabling selection of one or more of the currently remaining gaming machines to wager upon, and a second wagering interface display area controlled by the selection of the one or more currently remaining gaming machines and presenting a group of potential wagers to be made on an eventual outcome of the competition, at least some of the potential wagers presented with a target point total and calculated wager odds of reaching said target point total;

(iii) enabling at least one device to access the competition wager interface and allow a first bettor on the device to view, make selections, and activate wagers on the eventual outcome of the competition through the competition wager interface, the device comprising a device remote to the tournament controller or one of the gaming machines with the wagering interface display area displayed on a secondary display of the gaming machine; and

(iv) awarding a prize to the first bettor based on winning their activated wager.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second wagering interface display area includes a graphical meter indicating a current point score associated with the selection of the one or more currently remaining gaming machines.

10. The system of claim 8 , the tournament wagering controller further operable for allowing at least one handheld device to access the competition wager interface and allow a second bettor on the handheld device to view, make selections, and activate wagers on the eventual outcome of the competition through the competition wager interface.

11. The system of claim 8 , the tournament controller further operable for allowing simultaneously displaying a leader board at a respective display system of at least one of the gaming machines converted to the competition operating mode, the leader board including current relative positions of participants in the group play, the leader board further including an indication of how much bettor wagering is backing the respective participants in the group play.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the indication of how much bettor wagering is backing the respective participants in the group play includes a numerical bettor indicator adjacent to a symbol or video feed representing the respective participants in the group play and showing a total amount wagered on the respective participant by bettors.

13. The system of claim 8 , further comprising portable devices coupled to the tournament controller or tournament wagering controller over the network and operable to present the competition wager interface to bettors.

14. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

(a) an overhead display device residing at a position above two of more of the gaming machines; and

(b) wherein the tournament controller selectively instructs the overhead display device to display real-time leader board information including displaying a leader board, the leader board including current relative positions of participants in the group play, the leader board further including an indication of how much bettor wagering is backing the respective participants in the group play.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the indication of how much bettor wagering is backing the respective participants in the group play includes a numerical bettor indicator adjacent to a symbol or video feed representing the respective participants in the group play and showing a total amount wagered on the respective participant by bettors.

16. The system of claim 8 , in which the tournament wagering controller is connected to the internet through a firewall and operable to allow bettors to access the competition wager interface over the internet.

17. The system of claim 8 , in which the tournament controller is further operable for presenting a player independent wager interface providing the bettor ability to wager on the tournament high score independently of which player wins the tournament.

18. One or more tangible nontransitory computer readable media containing program code instructions executable by a tournament controller for:

(a) under control of the tournament controller operatively connected to a set of networked gaming machines, configuring at least some of the set of networked gaming machines to work in a competition operating mode for group play;

(b) during the competition operating mode, providing a competition wager interface under control of the tournament controller or a tournament wagering controller connected to the tournament controller, including a first players remaining interface display area showing a group of currently remaining gaming machines in the competition and their point totals and enabling selection of one or more of the currently remaining gaming machines to wager upon, and a second wagering interface display area controlled by the selection of the one or more currently remaining gaming machines and presenting a group of potential wagers to be made on an eventual outcome of the competition, at least some of the potential wagers presented with a target point total and calculated wager odds of reaching said target point total;

(c) enabling at least one device to access the competition wager interface and allow a first bettor on the device to view, make selections, and activate wagers on the eventual outcome of the competition through the competition wager interface, the device comprising a device remote to the tournament controller or one of the gaming machines with the wagering interface display area displayed on a secondary display; and

(d) awarding a prize to the first bettor based on winning their activated wager.

19. The tangible nontransitory computer readable media containing program code of claim 18 , wherein the second wagering interface display area includes a graphical meter presented indicating a current point score associated with the selection of the one or more currently remaining gaming machines.

20. The tangible nontransitory computer readable media containing program code of claim 18 , further comprising enabling at least one handheld device to access the competition wager interface and allowing second bettor on the handheld device to view, make selections, and activate wagers on the eventual outcome of the competition through the competition wager interface.