Big Fish Casino Gamers Demand Docs In Gambling Class Actions

Online gamers have 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.

Plaintiffs Cheryl Kater and Suzie Kelly claim that Big Fish Games Inc. and its owner Churchill Downs Inc. are intentionally dragging out class action lawsuits that were filed four years ago.

The plaintiffs argue that the company should be ordered by the court to submit pretrial evidence.

In May, the company filed a motion to compel arbitration and in June, Churchill Downs requested a stay on the case while the court ruled on their arbitration motion.

According to the companies, both arbitrable and non-arbitrable claims should be stayed while they wait for the case because they are reportedly inseparable.

However, plaintiffs in the Big Fish Casino class action claim that the companies are simply wasting valuable time that could be used to resolve claims that the casino service is classified as illegal gambling.

“Churchill Downs’ obstructionism in this 2015 case should not be countenanced,” the plaintiffs wrote in their motion. “Ms. Kater should be allowed to proceed with discovery as to her claims against Churchill Downs — claims which Churchill Downs concedes are non-arbitrable.”

Kater originally filed her Big Fish class action lawsuit in April 2015. She claimed that the online service, which offers casino games such as blackjack and poker, was a form of gambling due to the fact that a significant number of first time users spend additional money to purchase new chips after their free chips run out.

According to Kater’s Big Fish Casino class action, the gaming platform violates the Washington’s Recovery of Money Lost at Gambling Act as well as Washington’s Consumer Protection Act.

Big Fish faces similar claims from plaintiff Manasa Thimmegowda in the same court. Thimmegowda filed her Big Fish class action lawsuit against the online casino in February 2019.

According to her Big Fish class action, Thimmegowda started playing games on the platform in November 2017 and has lost more than $3,000 since then as a result of gambling.

Similarly to Kater and Kelly, Thimmegowda has found her Big Fish class action halted by defendant actions. Like the other plaintiffs, Thimmegowda has filed a motion to oppose the stay proposed by Big Fish Games, stating that her “only request” for jurisdictional discovery should be allowed to proceed.

When Thimmegowda offered to accept the stay as long as discovery was allowed to continue, Big Fish Games allegedly denied the offer saying that jurisdictional discovery is “categorically impermissible.”

In her motion, Thimmegowda notes: “It’s hard not to wonder: what, exactly, are Defendants trying so hard to hide?”

In both Big Fish class action lawsuits, the plaintiffs and Class Members are represented by Todd Logan, Rafey S. Balabanian and Brandt Silver-Korn of Edelson PC, and Janissa A. Strabuk of Tousley Brain Stephens PLLC.

The Big Fish Casino Illegal Gambling Class Action Lawsuits are Kater, et al. v. Churchill Downs Inc., et al., Case 2:15-cv-00612, and Thimmegowda v. Big Fish Games, et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-00199, both in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

UPDATE: 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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