Royal Match gambling class action overview:ย
- Who: A woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Turkish game developer Dream Games Teknoloji Anonim ลirket.
- Why: The plaintiff alleges the companyโs popular mobile game, Royal Match, violates state gambling laws.
- Where: The Royal Match gambling class action was filed in a Washington federal court.
A Washington state woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Turkish game developer Dream Games Teknoloji Anonim ลirket, alleging that its popular mobile game, Royal Match, violates state gambling laws.ย
Plaintiff Janna Schudde filed the class action lawsuit against Dream Games Teknoloji Anonim ลirketi Aug. 8 in a Washington federal court, alleging multiple violations of state law.
Schuddeโs lawsuit claims the mobile game Royal Match is addictive, and manipulates players into purchasing virtual gold coins to continue playing.
Game encourages โexcessiveโ spending, lawsuit claims
Schudde alleges Royal Match is designed to maximize addiction by manipulating the probability of success, enticing players to spend more money.ย
She claims Dream Games exploits psychological triggers similar to those used by casino operators to encourage excessive spending in the game.
According to the lawsuit, Schudde lost over $900 earlier this year on the game, which she alleges constitutes illegal gambling under Washington state law.ย
In Washington, gambling is defined as โstaking or risking something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the personโs control or influence upon an agreement or understanding that the person or someone else will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.โย
Schuddeโs lawsuit argues that Royal Match meets this definition, as players wager virtual gold coins, which can be purchased with real money, to gain additional moves and lives in the game.
The lawsuit draws parallels to a 2018 ruling by the Ninth Circuit in the case of Kater v. Churchill Downs Inc., which found that another mobile game, Big Fish Casino, constituted illegal gambling under Washington law. The court determined that the virtual chips in Big Fish Casino were โthings of valueโ because they extended the right to play the game. Schuddeโs lawsuit also argues that the gold coins in Royal Match are โthings of value.โ
Not free to play, class action says
While Royal Match is marketed as a free-to-play game, the lawsuit claims this is misleading.ย
Although downloading the game is free, players are encouraged to spend money on in-app items, with prices that can escalate to hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The lawsuit notes that these high-spending players, known as โwhalesโ in the industry, generate the majority of the gameโs profits.
According to the lawsuit, Dream Games has earned over $3 billion from player spending as of May 2024, with most of that revenue coming from Royal Match.ย
As a result, Schudde is looking to represent anyone in the United States who played Royal Match and lost purchased lives and coins. She is suing Dream Games for fraud, negligence, unjust enrichment, and for violating the stateโs consumer protection act. Schudde seeks certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.
Last month, MobilityWare agreed to a $100,000 non-monetary settlement to end claims brought by users of the companyโs various mobile apps, who alleged MobilityWare collected user information without consent and sold it to third parties for targeted advertising purposes.
What do you think of the allegations against Dream Games? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Omer Salik of Carter Arnett Bennett Perez PLLC.ย
The Royal Match gambling class action lawsuit is Schudde v. Dream Games Teknoloji Anonim ลirket, Case No. 2:23-cv-01215, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
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283 thoughts onโAddictiveโ Royal Match game violates gambling laws, class action claims
It starts easy and fun and it draws you in. All to fast you find yourself getting aggravated because you are so close to getting past the board. Pop-ups to buy something for a couple of bucks.. in an hour, I spent $75 without realizing it! To make it worse, I couldnโt get past the board I was trying to get past. Sadly, itโs not just this game.. I uninstalled Royal match when I saw that in one month I had spent $600-700. In 55 years I have never been inside a casino. I played blackjack, poker, with friends of course, solitaire. When COVID locked everything down, I started playing some of the games to fight the boredom. All these games, free to download, free to play. Wrong. I love match games so Royal match wasnโt the only game I played. Unfortunately, the free slots, you think itโs a free game, I donโt have to buy anything. Unless you are trying to make progress in a game. Just in the last year I guess thereโs a slot game and where you could easily finish anything no problem, and you didnโt have to buy anything unless you want. Now they changed everything and in order to finish different things, I donโt even want to say how much I have put into the game, and Iโm not the only one. I really hope that these companies are going to be held accountable for lying. They arenโt free. What really kills me is you donโt actually win real money, you win virtual coins etc. so if Iโm playing a game that doesnโt have any real money that you can win, why are they allowed to hide behind the โthe algorithm is randomโ . I wish I was able to get all the money back. hitting the $2 +. I wouldnโt be in debt
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Can we do one for Toon Blast? Same idea. What makes it even worse, is while most of the purchases range from $1.99 to about $60, they save up your purchases until you have $100 or more and then hit your payment method for all of those purchases at once!!
Add me please.
Add me please
Can I be added to this?
Same thing goes f
How do I get added to this. i found this game to withdrawal more than i authorized
Start one for Match Factory. They took my mom, run scams to get you to pay more and refused to fix their app errors. The game completely wiped my access out. No refund on my purchases. Awful!
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