{"id":193095,"date":"2021-11-25T06:35:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-25T14:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=193095"},"modified":"2021-11-25T10:33:13","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T18:33:13","slug":"facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook, Apple, Google \u2018Gambling Conspiracy\u2019 Lawsuits Consolidated"},"content":{"rendered":"

A slew of lawsuits against Facebook<\/a>, Apple, and Google alleging illegal gambling have been consolidated into one master complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.<\/p>\n

\"Facebook
Twenty-five plaintiffs do not like Facebook\u2019s \u201cdangerous partnership\u201d with social casinos, which make up nine of the social media giant\u2019s 12 highest-grossing apps. (Image: ABC News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The combined, amended complaint now lists 25 plaintiffs. It alleges the US tech platforms have formed \u201cdangerous partnerships\u201d with some of the world\u2019s biggest slot companies to create \u201can illegal gambling conspiracy\u201d in the form of social casino products.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfree-to-play\u201d apps enable users to play games that ape real casino games, but with virtual chips. These can be topped up using real money, but which cannot be withdrawn as fiat currency. Social casinos use stimulating graphics and behavioral prompts that can create a compulsion loop for the user.<\/p>\n

Unholy Alliance \u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

All plaintiffs say they have been hurt financially by this allegedly unholy alliance of social casinos and the digital platforms that host them, market them, and process the payments.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike Las Vegas slots, social casinos are extraordinarily profitable and highly addictive,\u201d claims the lawsuit. \u201cSocial casinos are so lucrative because they mix the addictive aspects of traditional slot machines with the power of the Platforms \u2026 to leverage big data and social network pressures to identify target and exploit consumers prone to predictive behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Last year, consumers purchased an estimated $6 billion in virtual chips. Of the top twelve grossing apps on Facebook, nine are social casinos.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The biggest of those, DoubleDown, is expected to generate around $400 million in chip purchases this year, according to the complaint. Of this, DoubleDown will keep $240 million, and $40 million will go to Rhode Island-based gaming tech company IGT, which licenses slot machine intellectual property to DoubleDown, according to the suit. The remainder, $120 million, will go to Facebook and other platforms that host DoubleDown games, the suit claims.<\/p>\n

Big Fish to Fry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There have been many cases over the past decade accusing social games developers and publishers of offering illegal gambling. Most have failed. That\u2019s because the legal definition of gambling in most jurisdictions requires something of value to be risked on a game of chance, or a future event to receive something of value in return.<\/p>\n

Since the virtual chips in a social casino were not considered to be \u201csomething of value\u201d in the real world, the games could not be classed as gambling.<\/p>\n

But in March 2018, a judge in the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled<\/a> that virtual chips were indeed a thing of value, and that Big Fish\u2019s social casino games therefore constituted illegal gambling in Washington state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 25 plaintiffs cite this case in asserting social casino games are also illegal in California and several other states.<\/p>\n

They are asking the court to order the platforms to cease offering social casino games and to return the profits. They state claims for class action relief under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, California\u2019s Unfair Competition Law, and various state gambling and consumer protection laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A slew of lawsuits against Facebook, Apple, and Google alleging illegal gambling have been consolidated into one master complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The combined, amended complaint now lists 25 plaintiffs. It alleges the US tech platforms have formed \u201cdangerous partnerships\u201d with some of the world\u2019s biggest slot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":193096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,69293,22988],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFacebook, Apple, Google \u2018Gambling Conspiracy\u2019 Lawsuits Consolidated<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Facebook, Apple and Google facing class-action lawsuit accusing them of being party of an illegal gambling conspiracy with social casinos.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facebook, Apple, Google \u2018Gambling Conspiracy\u2019 Lawsuits Consolidated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Facebook, Apple and Google facing class-action lawsuit accusing them of being party of an illegal gambling conspiracy with social casinos.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-25T14:35:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-25T18:33:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/FB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"992\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"558\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/\",\"name\":\"Facebook, Apple, Google \u2018Gambling Conspiracy\u2019 Lawsuits Consolidated\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/FB.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-25T14:35:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-25T18:33:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Facebook, Apple and Google facing class-action lawsuit accusing them of being party of an illegal gambling conspiracy with social casinos.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/facebook-apple-google-gambling-conspiracy-lawsuits-consolidated\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/FB.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/FB.jpg\",\"width\":992,\"height\":558,\"caption\":\"Twenty-five plaintiffs do not like Facebook\u2019s \u201cdangerous partnership\u201d with social casinos, which make up nine of the social media giant\u2019s 12 highest-grossing apps. 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