RICO Lawsuit Targets Apple, Google Due to Sweepstakes Casino Games

A new class action lawsuit named two tech giants defendants, along with a list of sweepstakes operators, accusing the companies of facilitating illegal online gambling and seeking recovery of money lost.

New Class Action Lawsuit Targets Four Sweepstakes Operators

That is the case for a new lawsuit filed by Julian Bargo, naming industry giants Google and Apple as defendants, the recognizable gaming lawyer and sports betting expert, Daniel Wallach, confirmed. The lawsuit was filed late last month and besides the two tech giants also named sweepstakes casino operators, CrownCoins Casino, High 5 Casino, WOW Vegas and MrLuck as defendants.

The new RICO class action lawsuit claims Apple and Google helped promote and profit from the offering of sweepstakes operators. “The Gaming Defendants misleadingly describe themselves as ‘social casinos’ to promote the deception that their websites and apps are free to play purely for entertainment purposes only,” reads the lawsuit. In addition, the legal claim, which seeks injunctive relief and recovery of money lost to illegal gambling, accuses the sweepstakes operators’ social casino apps of being “unauthorized, and unlawful, interstate gambling enterprise.”

The new RICO class action lawsuit claims that Apple and Google helped distribute “illegal gambling software,” to desktop computers, smartphones and other electronic devices across New Jersey. In his lawsuit, Bargo alleged that the two tech companies deepened their involvement with the sweepstakes operators by granting customers the ability to complete payments via their payment platforms, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

“The promotion and distribution of the Gaming Defendants apps through Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store to users of Android and iOS devices, respectively, is crucial to the furtherance of Defendants’ illicit, interstate gambling scheme,“

reads the recently filed lawsuit

Sweepstakes Apps Disguise Their Operations, Claims the Lawsuit

Describing the offering of the four sweepstakes operators, the lawsuit claims they were able to successfully mislead gambling regulators about the “true nature of their operations,” effectively circumventing gambling regulations. Bargo argued that the aforementioned sweepstakes operators are “not licensed casinos” and therefore not regulated by any gambling regulator. In contrast, a licensed casino would fall under the scope of gambling regulations in different jurisdictions, the lawsuit argues.

Per the lawsuit, the sweepstakes operators transform from “pay to play” social casino platforms into “an illicit gambling” operation, where consumers have the option to play games by paying real money with the ultimate goal of gaining financial benefits.

Bargo’s RICO class action lawsuit alleges that the sweepstakes operators offer to sell Game Coins simply as “a pretext to entice users to win Sweeps Coins, in what amounts to an unlawful, unauthorized casino.” Such activities, described as deceptive in the legal claim, turn a harmless social casino into illegal gambling, available to customers in New Jersey.

The class action complaint was filed with the New Jersey District Court and demands a jury. The legal action marks the latest one sweepstakes operators are facing in the United States, amid the lawmakers’ scrutiny of the activity and pushback from the legal online gambling sector.