Huuuge Casino Agrees to $6.5M Gambling Class Action Settlement

UPDATE: October 2020, the Huuuge Casino class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

Players who filed a class action lawsuit against the company behind the popular smartphone game Huuuge Casino are poised to walk away from the table with $6.5 million in winnings.

Lawyers for lead plaintiff Sean Wilson and the rest of the Class filed a request in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington on Aug. 23 seeking preliminary approval for a settlement they worked out with Huuuge Inc. The agreement would put to rest claims that the company illegally charged players of its Huuuge Casino, Billionaire Casino and Stars Casino games for game chips.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, an estimated 1,000 Class Members from Washington would recover as much as 50% of their lifetime spending amount, depending on their individual game playing history, and likely not less than 10% of their lifetime spending amount.

Wilson would get as much as $10,000 as an “incentive award” for taking up the case. The other Class representatives could get as much as $1,000 each.

The total proposed settlement amount is “no matter how sliced or diced, a massive recovery,” the plaintiffs wrote to the court in their request for settlement approval.

Plaintiffs’ legal fees will also be paid out of the settlement. That cost is not specifically calculated in the proposal, but the lawyers for the plaintiffs said they would seek no more than 30% of the total award plus expenses.

In addition to the monetary payout, Huuuge Inc. has agreed to make changes to Huuuge Casino and its other “social” casino game applications – or apps – as part of the proposed settlement.

The company will provide access to gambling addiction resources in the games, according to the agreement. It will also create a “comprehensive self-exclusion policy” that will allow players to restrict themselves from gameplay. Links to access the self-exclusion option must be “prominently available” in Huuuge Casino and the other games, the settlement proposal says.

Finally, when players run out of virtual chips while playing Huuuge Casino and the other casino games, they will be allowed to continue playing at least one game in the app without having to buy more chips or wait for a new supply of free chips to continue.

Wilson filed the class action lawsuit against Huuuge Inc. in April 2018, claiming the company was operating an illegal gambling operation in Washington state that also violated consumer protection laws.

In Huuuge Casino, for example, the company gives first-time players an amount of free game chips to play with. If the players lose all the chips through wagering, the app prompts them to buy more chips – starting at $4.99 for 100,000,000 chips – to continue playing. Once purchased, the players can use the chips to place bets in the casino games. Through those bets, the players have the chance to win more chips, which constitutes gambling, the class action lawsuit argued.

Three months after the lawsuit was filed, lawyers for Huuuge Inc. asked the court to force the plaintiffs into arbitration.

In a motion filed in July 2018, the gaming company said the terms of use for Huuuge Casino games included a stipulation that required users to submit to arbitration to mediate legal disputes and prohibited them from filing lawsuits. The Court refused to compel the plaintiffs to arbitrate, saying the games’ terms of use were inconspicuous and there was no evidence the lead plaintiff was aware of them.

Huuuge Inc. appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which also refused to force arbitration on the case. The appeals panel said anyone who downloaded the Huuuge Casino games apps would have to have “Sherlock Holmes’ instincts” to find the terms of use.”

“When downloading the app, the Terms are not just submerged – they are buried twenty thousand leagues under the sea,” the panel of judges wrote. And “once the user unearths” the terms, “the page does not even inform the user that he will be bound by those terms.”

The two sides began settlement negotiations in May and participated in a day-long mediation session with now retired Judge Layn R. Phillips before the final “pioneering” agreement was reached, the request for settlement approval says.

“Particularly in the midst of a pandemic-driven recession, these recoveries will be life-changing for many Class Members,” the motion says. “Importantly, the settlement further requires Huuuge to implement meaningful prospective relief, including by providing addiction-related resources within their social casino games and by creating and honoring a comprehensive self-exclusion policy. Because this settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate, the Court should not hesitate to approve it.”

Did you buy game chips in one of the Huuuge Casino games? Let us know in the comment section below.

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The Class is represented by Jay Edelson, Rafey S. Balabanian, Todd Logan, Brandt Silver-Korn and Alexander G. Tievsky of Edelson PC and Cecily C. Shiel of Tousley Brain Stephens PLLC.

The Huuuge Casino Class Action Lawsuit is Sean Wilson, et al. v. Huuuge Inc., Case No. 3:18-cv-05276, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma.

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