30-second summary
Play 80+ FREE slot machine games online! Have fun with free slots and earn rewards points for casinos across the US. No Download & No deposit Required.
- Big Fish Casino allegedly offers tokens with an assigned value
- Virtual chips cannot be cashed out; players must buy more chips to keep playing
- Second lawsuit against Big Fish Casino in which plaintiff seeks to recover losses
- Owner Aristocrat Leisure vows to fight the lawsuit
A mobile gamer has launched a class action lawsuit against online gaming platform Big Fish Games Inc. The lawsuit alleges that the free playing chips offered in some of Big Fish’s casino games have a monetary value.
The plaintiff has filed the lawsuit for herself and “a class of similarly situated individuals.” A similar lawsuit originally filed in 2015 is still being appealed.
Casino chips “a thing of value”
Manasa Thimmegowda, of Florida, filed a civil suit on February 11 in Seattle in which her claim is “to recover her losses and to obtain the appropriate relief.” The class action lawsuit covers herself and “a class of similarly situated individuals.”
The suit is against current owner Aristocrat Leisure Ltd, which bought the game developer in early 2018 for US$990m (£758m) cash, and former owner Churchill Downs. Aristocrat Leisure said it would “vigorously defend” itself.
Thimmegowda’s case rests on the use of virtual chips that are available for free in many of the casino games on the Big Fish platform. Winners cannot cash out their chips for money, but players who run out of chips and want to keep playing have to buy more. The chips cost from around $1 (£0.77) to $250 (£191.5) for a bundle.
“Free to play” a misnomer
The lawsuit claims that selling tokens in so-called “free to play” games that have in-app purchases amounts to a game of chance. An earlier court ruling in Washington State agreed, and decreed that it was a “game of chance” and thus illegal gambling.
Thimmegowda claims to have lost some $3,000 (£2298) in play because she could not cash out her winnings, despite having paid money for her chips.
Her class action lawsuit states: “The proliferation of internet-connected mobile devices has led to the growth of what are known in the industry as ‘free to play’ video games. This term is a misnomer. It refers to a model by which the initial download of the game is free, but companies reap huge profits by selling thousands of in-app items.
“By operating Big Fish Casino and other similar online gambling games, defendants have violated Washington law and illegally profited from tens of thousands of customers. Accordingly, [the] plaintiff, on behalf of herself and a class of similarly situated individuals, brings this lawsuit to recover her losses and to obtain the appropriate relief.”
Christopher Dore, an attorney representing Manasa Thimmegowda, said: “As we allege in our complaint, the mobile gambling industry, by design, preys on consumers by bringing addictive gambling opportunities directly into their homes.”
The 2015 lawsuit
Another gamer filed a similar case against Big Fish in 2015, also in Washington State. Cheryl Kater alleged she had purchased $1,000 worth of virtual chips. Her lawsuit claimed that in-app purchases contravene the Recovery of Money Lost at Gambling Act and the Washington Consumer Protection Act. Both these are on the Washington statute books.
The district court judge threw out Kater’s case in 2016. However, she appealed and the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled in March 2018 that Big Fish’s virtual casino chips could be classified as “something of value.” Even though the chips cannot be cashed out, the ruling means that under state law they are a gambling stake.
Appeal circuit Judge Milan D. Smith’s verdict has major ramifications for online casino games that provide virtual chips and in-app purchases of additional tokens. Indeed, the ruling has implications for all kinds of online games that offer in-app microtransactions and have an element of chance. This chimes with the ongoing regulatory rulings in Europe on the illegality of loot boxes.
Judge Smith’s decision included the memorable sentence: “Despite collecting millions in revenue, Churchill Downs, like Captain Renault in Casablanca, purports to be shocked — shocked! — to find that Big Fish Casino could constitute illegal gambling. We are not.”
Following the ruling, Aristocrat said in April 2018 that it would appeal. It claimed that there were “meritorious legal and factual defenses against [Kater’s] allegations and requests for relief.” It has filed the appeal with Churchill Downs.
No date has been set for a hearing into Thimmegowda’s lawsuit, but game developers everywhere will be following her case keenly. As with Kater’s suit, there are likely to be various appeals and the final outcome could be several years away.
Gaming giant
By any measure, Aristocrat Leisure is a giant in the gaming sector. Worth an estimated $15bn (£11.5bn), it could easily afford to buy out Churchill Downs to take over Big Fish, which is based in Washington State. The gaming platform has 12.4m active users a month.
The Australia-based Aristocrat has acquired a significant number of online social gaming companies lately. According to Krejcik Gaming, it is now the “second-largest social casino publisher globally by revenue.”
Aristocrat reportedly made a profit of $729.6m (£558.9) in 2018, up 34% year on year. Revenue was up 48% to a record high of $3.6bn (£2.8bn). Thimmegowda’s lawsuit alleges that Big Fish Casino has annual revenues of more than $100m (£76.6m), while all of Big Fish’s casino games together earn revenues of more than $200m (£153m).
Gambling has been around for a long time and the good thing is that it has evolved over the years with many aspects introduced. At first, when people were said to start gambling it was done between families and friend, and for many years, gambling activities was done within family and friends. Then, eventually, gambling at events was introduced and people began to gamble on the outcome of battles or tournaments before it evolved to carnivals and the like. After that, there was a huge change in the way people gamble and different kinds of games of chance were introduced and players began to try their luck on games. After that, it became possible to gamble commercially at a physical outlet and people could come around and bet on games at these outlets. With that, gambling became very interesting for players to engage in and then, the online gambling industry was introduced for players to play with ease. Since the introduction of the online gambling industry, it has become very easy for anyone to decide to go online and then, start to play casino games. In that case, players began to switch online thanks to the numerous offers players stand to enjoy.
All About Online Gambling
Online Casino Games No Download
The online gambling industry has been a pivotal part of the online gambling industry that you can choose to join with complete ease. As it stands, the online community has grown from what it used to be when it all started. At first, the community was introduced as an alternative to traditional casinos, which has become quite expensive for a lot of players. However, after a few years, players began to see that it was even a lot better for then to play online. And, with that, the popularity of the industry started to grow and it began to expand to become what it is today. With the increased popularity, players started to enjoy a lot of exciting bonuses as the competition among casinos began to brew. In addition to that, for the casinos to stay relevant they began to offer bonuses to players so as to lure players to their side. As a result, it has become the new norm for online casinos to offer players welcome bonuses for joining their casino. In that case, if you continue to go online for casino games, you can be sure that you can easily enjoy playing at an online casino.
Apart from attracting new players, the betting sites in the industry is all about providing players that already play on the site consistent rewards for staying loyal. In this case, most online casinos come up with different loyalty points that players can make use of to get different prizes. If you are even lucky enough, you can even get to enjoy massive prizes such as travelling to an island around the world. In addition to that, you can even get the chance to participate in a tournament pool that you will get the chance to win a big prize, which is usually millions in dollars or equivalent of your country's currency. As a result, if you are loyal to a top online gambling site, you will get to receive a series of attractive bonuses as you continue to play. It does not end there as you will get the chance to enjoy playing at the comfort of your home or on the go, depending on when you want to play as there are no time restrictions. To make it better, you can even play casino games for free, if you like to learn how to play a particular game or you do not want to risk losing money.
- Online gambling is a good place for any player to get started
- There is a lot of benefits to enjoy online
How to play for free?
There is a lot of benefits that are attached to playing casino games online and among them is playing for free. It is without a doubt that you can play casino games online and if you are familiar with them, you will know that casino games are very exciting. However, it can become very frustrating when you begin you lose and in that case, you might want to enjoy the game without that bad side. As a result, if you want to forgo the thing that makes it quite annoying, you will as well need to forgo the prize you stand to win. This means that, if you choose to play for free, you will not get to win any real money. In that case, if you do not mind winning virtual money, you can proceed to play the casino games for free. To do this, you can simply go to any online casino that you know and you are good to go. This is because most online casinos allow players to try out the game for free before going on to play for real money. Once you make your decision, you can then go to the casino's lobby to get started.
Can play for free on mobile?
If you are among the millions of players that love to play casino games online and will like to do so on mobile. The good thing is that you can also play casino games for free on mobile devices. In that case, if you are looking to get started, you can simply go to a casino site that has been optimized for mobile browsers. And as a result, you can continue to play the game on your mobile device. However, you need to ensure that your internet connection is strong enough and in addition to that, you need to make sure you are not in a restricted region. In some cases, you will also need to confirm that you are above the legal playing age in your region just to ensure that anyone below the legal age does not play at the casino. Apart from online casinos, you can also visit the game's developers on your mobile device browser to play the casino game you want. You can as well play with ease at several third-party casino game review sites that have become rampant online today. Simply choose the platform you want to play the casino for free to get started with playing.
Where can I get free casino games with no in-app purchases?
Apart from visiting different gambling platforms, as it stands, you can download a particular game on your mobile. This is because there are a lot of casino game developers that have gone on ahead to create downloadable casino games for players that want to use mobile to play the various casino games for free. To download, if you are using Android, you need to go to your play store to find the casino game you want to play. Then, you can use the search bar to search the game directly and once you have done that, you can then proceed to download the game. For IOS users, you can as well go to the app store and then proceed to download the game by searching using the search bar. In most cases, you will need to pick one of the different variations to download. This is because, especially for popular casino games, there are a lot of versions that you can choose to play anytime you want. To ensure that it does not have in-app purchases, you need to check the game's description to confirm before you down. Simply try to locate the part that indicates in-app purchases and download the that specifies 'NO'.