A spate of lawsuits filed over the last few days target online gaming companies, alleging their digital casino offerings constitute illegal gambling under Washington state law.
These lawsuits follow a ruling last month from a federal appeals court that found Big Fish Games’ casino games violate Washington state law governing online gambling. The latest lawsuits, four in total filed late last week and early this week, target “free-to-play” casino games from Huuuge Games, DoubleDown Interactive, High 5 Games and Playtika.
Each company offers a series of games typically found in casinos, like slots, blackjack and roulette, that use virtual chips. The chips have no monetary value themselves, but players can only play as long as they have chips. If they run out, they have to wait until the game offers more free chips or they can buy hundreds of thousands of chips for a couple bucks and jump back in.
These cases, along with the Big Fish case that preceded them, could have major implications for the casual games market. A lot of popular games today use in-app purchases as a revenue driver, and it appears there is a burgeoning backlash against that.
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