High Stakes Players Sue Gaming Site Skillz Over Unpaid Prizes, Unpunished Cheating
Posted on: June 18, 2020, 02:43h.
Last updated on: June 19, 2020, 07:26h.
Two individuals have filed a lawsuit against Skillz in the United States District Court in Nevada, claiming that the skill-based gaming platform is defrauding players – though the company says the plaintiffs are the only cheaters in this case.
Alyssa Ball and John Prignano claim that Skillz refused to pay out hundreds of thousands in cash and prizes, while cheaters kept their ill-gotten winnings.
Skillz Claims Legal Gaming in 38 States
Skillz offers players real money competitive play in a variety of mobile games. These include apps based on casino games like blackjack, sports games, traditional board games, puzzles, or just about anything else you might find in your favorite app store. Skillz claims their site offers legal gaming in 38 states since it features games of skill under the definitions of chance and gambling in those jurisdictions.
According to Ball, a 19-year-old from Nevada, she lost $650,000 to a cheater she played against on the site in a game known as Blitz21, which includes elements of blackjack and solitaire. After notifying Skillz of the alleged cheating, Ball says the site only warned the unnamed opponent and suspended her account.
Ball further claims that when she found Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise on Instagram to confront him about the situation, he sent her an inappropriate response.
“Have we met somewhere? I feel like I’d remember as you’re too beautiful to be forgettable,” Ball alleges Paradise to have written. “Haha and if we haven’t met, we should, I’m in Vegas all the time.”
Ball says that Skillz terminated her account, seizing her $28,000 balance.
Ball, Prignano Seek Millions in Damages
Prignano makes similar claims, minus the personal interactions. According to Prignano, he earned enough rewards points on the site to redeem them for a Porsche Boxster, worth approximately $60,000. But when he tried to claim his reward, he alleges that Skillz increased the number of points needed for the car without warning. Skillz later accused Prignano of cheating, then banned him from the site and confiscated the $286,000 in his account.
In addition, Prignano claims he lost about $950,000 to the same individual named by Ball, in addition to another $350,000 to two other alleged cheaters, named only as John Does 2 and 3 in the lawsuit.
In a statement released to multiple media outlets, Skillz says that it was only doing its job to prevent cheating.
This suit was filed by two people who colluded to cheat the Skillz community,” a spokesperson for Skillz said. “They were caught by our trust and safety team and kicked off of our platform in accordance with our terms of service and commitment to honesty, integrity and fairness. Their case has no merit and is an attempt to intimidate our company and obtain illegitimate gains.”
Lawyer Mac VerStandig is representing the two plantiffs. VerStandig is the same lawyer who represented a group of poker players who sued Mike Postle and Stones Gambling Hall over alleged cheating during livestreamed games. A judge dismissed that lawsuit earlier this month.
Ball and Prignano seek $5.9 million in damages and are asking for a jury trial on nine counts, including consumer fraud, fraud, and unjust enrichment.
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Last Comments ( 24 )
I hope to God someone sues these cheating assholes. I did ok my 1st year playing blitz 21, they then started matching me against the top ten players. I could never win against them. They advertise that it is skill based and you will be matched accordingly, but that is not true. I won 2nd place in the country playing the charter tournament for this same game.
I've actually twice put up perfect scores like there's no possible way to put up higher except by a time bonus which at very most could be 700 (that's if I took all the time and player finished in a sec so usual time bonuses are 100-250 dif) and lost by 4000 and 5000+ points . 1st time got refunded 2nd time got the hell out.
Can we all come together and start a class action suit against Skillz? I'm serious. This is ridiculous. I knew I was not the only one this shit has been happening to! We really should file a suit. I guarantee there are so many more people out there like us with similar stories of being cheated by these crooks!
In bingo they will call the same numbers over and over and I will hit perfect daubs there is hardly any numbers call score 5000 your opponent scores 20000 And no option of replay it is definitely a scam you can lose 18.00 in 10 games but only make 12.00
Skillz is without a doubt a dodgy scam! They accused me of abusing their replay feature, which was total bull, and banned me anyway even though I stopped watching replays. Skillz ENCOURAGES their players to watch and study winning replays, and spectate what the pros do. That's basically all I was doing! You'd think they'd be very clear with their ads, but no! Speaking of which, they're biting off more than they can chew when it comes to paying for marketing and advertising. Last year alone, they spent nearly a third of a BILLION dollars on advertising their company with their revenues being less than that. What's the point of studying replays to get better at these games if you're going to get flagged and banned for doing so?! I'm not a cheat. I have a 118 IQ, and a 97 percentile working memory! Didn't even make any effort to resolve the flag either, they flat-out ignored my explanation and banned me anyway. These guys obviously don't care about their customers, and they don't deserve to be in business any longer.
Yes there is definitely something shady with the delay on match-ups. I believe they are just waiting till a higher score comes along then they match it with your lower score. Also their bot use is insane. And so obvious. Also Ive actually noticed during game play my points not being credited for every winning shot. It was happening every once in a while. But as I got better and started winning it started being every other 2 or 3 shots it wouldnt get credited.
I have a screen recording of them using players to cheat several in fact one game shows the other player made Three moves then at the end their score trailed mine by 20,000 exactly as the game ended and final scores were posted then they say you are supposed to have the same cards as the opponent during match hands and this is not always true I have screen recordings of this as well. Why isn’t there an attorney‘s office out there that will do a class action lawsuit the proof is in the bag easy money for an attorney‘s office!
Skillz is literally robbing people. If you play enough and get good enough to start winning, you will find yourself starting to lose. There have been very suspicious things that happen during play like I will put up a average score in pool for instance in a certain dollar bracket, and then I get paired with a “random” player and I would win. Sometimes I would lose. But the shady part comes when I put up a really high score. For some reason, the game all of a sudden has a problem matching me up with someone. It takes 20 minutes to find a player to match up with when I have shot a high score. But when I shoot a trash score there has never, and I mean not even once,been an instance where I was waiting 20 or 30 minutes for the game to match me up with someone. It’s always right away when I shoot a losing score. And most of the time when I shoot a high score and the game has a sudden problem finding a match, 20 minutes later I end up losing after it matched me up. They have their programming rigged. There is no other explanation. It happens in every type of skillz game. When you put up a really high score, the game which was matching you right away with someone prior, will have a sudden problem with finding a matchup. And I believe that this shows that when you start winning or get good at a game, the system will either wait to pair you against someone with a real high score average, or a bot that will beat you. You won’t always lose when you have a high score and get thrown on a wait, but it is definately a process the game is putting you through to cheat you.
My account has been closed and they are saying that I cheat, took advantage of the aborting games (they have issues with the software and connectivity) , said that I create multiple accounts which is not tru, basically they will keep your money and won’t give it back at all, I’m still waiting since 2019 a hoodie, coins , plaque Etc and never arrived I’m still fighting to get $700 back, and $150 in gifts This game should be revised by the government of gambling and check their rules , you will lose your money and will never see them again They know how to get your money and they control the games to earn 20% of all games , they don’t care if you win or lose , they just want their cut