US-12623155-B1 - Systems and methods for processing combination selections including predictions and fantasy entries

US12623155B1US 12623155 B1US12623155 B1US 12623155B1US-12623155-B1

Abstract

Methods of processing a combination selections are disclosed. A method may include receiving, by a processor, a combination selection of a user, the combination selection comprising one or more prediction selections corresponding to one or more predictions and a fantasy entry selection corresponding to a fantasy entry. The method may include communicating, by the processor, with an externally controlled second computing device such that the user is entered into one or more event contracts corresponding to the one or more predictions via the second computing device. The method may include reserving, by the processor, the fantasy entry. The method may include determining, by the processor, a payout amount by which to update an account of the user based on an outcome of the one or more event contracts and the fantasy entry. Graphical user interfaces, and associated methods, for making combination selections are also disclosed.

Inventors

Brandon Alan Stakenborg
Dustin Tyler Cooper
Weston Lee Jossey
Samuel York Baker
Nicholas Glenn Green

Assignees

UNDERDOG SPORTS, LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20250829

Claims (15)

1 . A system comprising: a user computing device for providing combination selections of a user made by the user via a graphical user interface, each of the combination selections corresponding to one or more predictions and a fantasy entry; and a first computing device for receiving the combination selections from the user computing device and, for each of the combination selections, processing the combination selection to determine a payout amount for the user and updating an account of the user by the payout amount, wherein processing the combination selection comprises separately processing (i) a portion of the combination selection corresponding to the one or more predictions by communicating with an externally controlled second computing device of a designated contract market (DCM) such that the user is entered into one or more event contracts corresponding to the one or more predictions via the second computing device and (ii) a portion of the combination selection corresponding to the fantasy entry, wherein processing the portion of the combination selection corresponding to the fantasy entry comprises reserving the fantasy entry before the one or more event contracts settle, wherein the payout amount is determined based on an outcome of the one or more event contracts and the fantasy entry, and wherein the account, updated by the payout amount, is viewable by the user via the graphical user interface.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein processing the combination selections comprises, for each of the combination selections: determining a prediction payout amount corresponding to the one or more predictions and updating the account of the user with the prediction payout amount; and subsequently, determining a fantasy entry payout amount corresponding to the fantasy entry and updating the account of the user with the fantasy entry payout amount.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the fantasy entry payout amount is based on the prediction payout amount.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more event contracts are entered into in a CFTC-compliant manner.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more event contracts are processed by the DCM.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein processing the portion of the combination selection corresponding to the one or more predictions comprises purchasing, selling, settling, or a combination thereof the one or more event contracts.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein processing the portion of the combination selection corresponding to the fantasy entry comprises funding the fantasy entry at least partially with a payout amount corresponding to the one or more predictions.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is compliant with CFTC regulations for futures contracts.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is operable to reserve the fantasy entry before the one or more predictions are resolved.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is operable to determine the payout amount based on an outcome of the fantasy entry after the one or more event contracts are resolved.
11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is operable to receive a prediction payout amount for the one or more event contracts corresponding to the one or more predictions and update the account with the prediction payout amount before settling the respective fantasy entry.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the prediction payout amount is received from the externally controlled second computing device.
13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is operable to grade and/or settle the fantasy entry after receiving a prediction payout amount for the one or more event contracts.
14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is operable to receive a prediction payout amount for the one or more event contracts and automatically subsequently determine a fantasy entry payout amount for the fantasy entry based on an outcome of the fantasy entry.
15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is operable to receive a prediction payout amount corresponding to the one or more predictions from the externally controlled second computing device and subsequently determine a fantasy entry payout amount for the fantasy entry based on the outcome of the fantasy entry and the prediction payout amount.

Description

BACKGROUND Fantasy sports games (e.g., contests or competitions) (e.g., Pick 'Em style games) have existed for several years that allow users to win prizes, sometimes in the form of money, based on their skill in picking certain outcomes for athletes in sports games or events (e.g., tournaments). In some such fantasy sports games, users make fantasy entries that include a set of fantasy picks for two or more athletes. Such picks may correspond, for example, to one or more player stats for a particular player for a game. For example, a user may make a pick that a certain player will score more or fewer points than a preset amount of points during a particular game and/or may have more or fewer assists during the game. Fantasy picks for other player stats (e.g., sport-specific stats) may be available to include as a pick in a fantasy entry. Certain jurisdictions, such as in jurisdictions (e.g., states and/or federally) in the United States (U.S.), require that a fantasy entry has certain characteristics, such as that a fantasy entry includes picks for at least two athletes that are on different teams. More recently, prediction markets have begun allowing users to make predictions for outcomes of a variety of events, including certain sports games in terms of which team will win the game. In the U.S., these predictions are made via a type of futures contract referred to as an event contract. Some such event contracts are contracts, each of which is entered into by opposing parties (e.g., a user and a counter party) and pays an amount to each of the parties based on which team wins a sports game as determined in a manner specified in the contract, generally the final score subject to certain conditions; generally a value of the contract to is paid to the winning party and nothing is paid to the losing party. Prediction markets and event contracts are regulated in the U.S. by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). To date, fantasy games involving fantasy entries and prediction markets for sports games have been entirely separate. That is, these products have been offered to users by different entities (e.g., companies) using different apps and/or websites. SUMMARY The present disclosure includes the recognition that there is a desire by users to be able to make predictions and fantasy entries using a single interface and to obtain payouts for entry amounts where the payouts reflect the users' skill and accuracy in making combinations of predictions and fantasy picks. Moreover, the present disclosure recognizes that regulatory and legal hurdles that require specific handling for fantasy entries and prediction markets (e.g., event contracts processed thereon) can be addressed while providing a user with a “seamless” user experience to make a combination selection comprising one or more prediction selections and fantasy entry selection as a single submission if the combination selection is processed in an appropriate manner, using specific technical computing systems and methods disclosed herein. Disclosed herein are, among other things, systems and methods for making and processing combination selections for users that include one or more prediction selections corresponding to one or more predictions and a fantasy entry selection corresponding to a fantasy entry that includes one or more fantasy picks. A combination selection may be used to, in parallel, enter a user into one or more event contracts corresponding to the one or more predictions and reserve the fantasy entry. In this way, one or more current characteristics of a fantasy entry (e.g., price corresponding to a particular fantasy pick) may be frozen when reserving the fantasy entry even if the one or more current characteristics would otherwise vary between (i) the reserving and (ii) resolution (e.g., grading and/or settlement) and/or if the fantasy entry were only made after resolving the one or more predictions. Reserving a fantasy entry can facilitate making a fantasy entry at a time when it is still possible to do so while using proceeds from a prediction to fund the fantasy entry whereas if one waited for a prediction corresponding to prediction selection to resolve and the underlying event contract(s) to settle before making the fantasy entry, it may be too late to make the fantasy entry at all, for example because one or more events corresponding to one or more fantasy picks in the fantasy entry have already begun. A reserved fantasy entry can be resolved (e.g., graded and/or settled) on a delay to allow time for one or more predictions to resolve and the underlying event contract(s) to settle to then provide funding to the fantasy entry for its subsequent settlement in a regulatorily compliant manner, that is, for proceeds of the event contract(s) to automatically fund the fantasy entry even though the fantasy entry would otherwise have been able to be settled earlier if not funded by proceeds from event contract(s). Such systems and m