A number of on-line gambling operators have been hit by a series of lawsuits over the final few days, using the companies facing allegations that their on-line casino offerings have violated Washington state law. Late final week and early this week, a total of four lawsuits were filed against four businesses, such as DoubleDown Interactive, Huuuge Games, Playtika and Higher five Games, accusing them in providing so-called free-to-play casino games breaching the existing state law.
The legal action follows a US Court of Appeals March ruling that found that the casino games offered by Big Fish Games have violated the Washington state’s online gambling legislation.
Each from the above-mentioned businesses offers a selection of casino games, such as blackjack, slots and roulette, which use virtual chips that don’t have any monetary value themselves but clients are able to play only so long as you will find chips in their accounts. Once players run out of chips, they are given the chance to purchase chips or they’re granted with much more totally free chips by the game.
The lawsuits were filed in US District Court in Seattle and Tacoma and use pretty much the same arguments in their filings, with them also center around the the arguments used within the Big Fish Casino case. The operators have been alleged in using virtual chips to supply their customers with access to their “free-to-play” casino games. Nevertheless, as explained above, the chips represent “something of value” but aren’t worth cash on their own. Below the current Washington state gambling law, that clause has been considered as a vague 1 and according to the lawsuits’ arguments constitutes illegal gambling.
Class action status is becoming sought by the plaintiffs for the latest series of lawsuits against gambling companies.
As explained above, the 4 new lawsuits filed against the 4 gambling operators are very similar towards the 1 faced by Big Fish Casino has lately faced.
Big Fish Casino provides free-to-play versions of a few of the all-time casino classics, with clients becoming allowed to play these games by using virtual chips that do not have monetary worth. Based on the ruling of the US Court of Appeals’ Judge Milan D. Smith, virtual chips could be described as “thing of value”, so purchasing such chips to play the casino games versions was actually illegal online gambling below the existing Washington state legislation.
The lawsuit against the Big Fish Casino parent business Churchill Downs was filed in 2015 by a regular player of the casino, Cheryl Kater. Ms. Kater claimed that virtual chips worth more than $1,000 had been bought by her to ensure that she could get access towards the games, and her legal advisors argued that the virtual chips in query could be categorized as “a factor of value”.