Laura Pennington  |  February 13, 2019

Category: Legal News

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A class action lawsuit accuses Big Fish Games of illegally operating online casino games.

The Big Fish class action lawsuit claims the app company offers “free” chips to first-time players, but once those run out, players must buy more chips to play the casino games.

According to plaintiff Manasa Thimmegowda, the in-app charges that are necessary for a player to keep going could rack up quickly, even going into the thousands of dollars.

The plaintiff in this Big Fish class action lawsuit says that she began playing games offered by the defendant in November 2017.

Thimmegowda claims to have made regular purchases of chips to continue playing Big Fish Casino games. She says in the Big Fish class action lawsuit that she lost more than $3,000 playing the games of chance.

As pointed out in the Big Fish class action lawsuit, these in-app purchase games have become increasingly popular with mobile app and game developers because of the possibility of big profits.

According to the Big Fish class action lawsuit, free-to-play games generated more than $3.8 billion in revenue for these companies in 2017. It’s estimated that those numbers will grow by 10 percent each year.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of a Class is seeking redress from the current owners and operators of Big Fish Casino games based on the company’s offering of electronic casino and slot machine games. These games are available on Facebook, Android devices, and Apple iOS devices for consumers to play.

“By operating Big Fish Casino and other similar online gambling games, Defendants have violated Washington law and illegally profited from tens of thousands of consumers,” the Big Fish Casino class action lawsuit claims.

The Big Fish class action lawsuit states that Big Fish Casino was recently named in a Ninth Circuit decision as being in violation of Washington laws on gambling.

“Defendants’ online gambling games are illegal gambling games because they are online games at which players wager things of value (the chips) and by an element of chance (e.g., by spinning an online slot machine) are able to obtain additional entertainment and extend gameplay (by winning additional chips),” the Big Fish class action states.

The Big Fish class action lawsuit argues that because of these practices, which allegedly violate laws on gambling, the company has been able to illegally profit off of thousands of consumers.

The Big Fish class action lawsuit seeks to represent a Class of consumers who began playing any Big Fish casino games on or after March 24, 2015, and lost chips that were purchased for the purpose of playing these games.

The proposed Class in the Big Fish class action lawsuit is represented by Janissa A. Strabuk and Cecily C. Shiel of Tousley Brain Stephens PLLC and Rafey Balabanian, Todd Logan, and Benjamin H. Richman of Edelson PC.

The Big Fish Casino Class Action Lawsuit is Manasa Thimmegowda v. Big Fish Games Inc., et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-00199, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle.

UPDATE: On July 1, 2019, online gamers requested that Big Fish Games and Churchill Downs be forced to hand over pretrial evidence in two class actions claiming that its platform is essentially illegally gambling.

UPDATE 2: On June 2, 2020, Big Fish Games agreed in principle to an overall $155 million settlement of their claims of illegal gambling operations.

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472 thoughts onBig Fish Casino Class Action Says App Violates Gambling Laws

  1. Crystal Malvitz says:

    Big Fish casino is allowed to continue the new owners to steal your money and never answer emails only with generic answers. Also, they make it impossible to win the side games like you have to bet millions and billions to win practically nothing and all their games are rigged I have hundreds of videotapes.

  2. Joe says:

    Is it too late to get restitution?

    1. Maegen Hayward-Price says:

      I have lost a ton of money to big fish casino

      1. Anyelusa says:

        Jackpot world casino también se podría demandar por su publicidad engañosa? Se compran monedas y no da nada, ellos alegan que es un simple juego que no es dinero real pero yo sí invierto aunque sea unos pesos de dinero real. Hay una misión que pretende que uno cumpla de 1000 dólares gastados y solo da un pequeño bonus.
        A veces causa en lugar de diversión estrés y ansiedad por no lograr las misiones que pone.

  3. April says:

    I got my money almost a thousand dollars

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