Update: In a statement to Sweepsy “We continually assess our position across jurisdictions taking into account a range of factors,” the Playtech spokesperson said. “We are not supplying social gaming operators on sweepstakes in California at this time.” Full story here.
The ripple effects of a landmark sweepstakes gaming lawsuit in California are still taking shape.
In an email sent to its California players Wednesday, Chumba Casino announced that it would be removing “some games from Chumba Casino in California” and then listed Tsai Shen’s Gift Fire Blaze, Mega Fire Blaze: Big Circus, and Oink Oink Oink as examples.
All three of those games come from Playtech, one of the leading online gambling games and technology companies in the world.
Sweepsy also tried on Wednesday playing Live Blackjack, a Playtech offering, in California on Chumba Casino. We received a message saying the game was unavailable.
‘We are not reliant on third party games suppliers’
On Thursday, a spokesperson for VGW, which owns Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, and Global Poker, told Sweepsy:
“We can confirm that games provided by Playtech – a third party games supplier – are no longer available for our players in California. We understand these players may be disappointed and apologise for any inconvenience or frustration caused. We cannot speak to the decisions of third party games providers but from time to time, licensing arrangements with games suppliers evolve for a variety of reasons and we continue to have a positive relationship with Playtech.
“However, we are not reliant on third party games suppliers and our brands still offer a vast library of world-class free-to-play games, many of which are created by our amazing in-house games studios that provide our players with leading, exclusive content.”
So the Playtech removal is across VGW sites, not just Chumba Casino.
Playtech not named in landmark lawsuit
This move from VGW comes in the wake of a major state-level lawsuit California filed on Aug. 28 against Sweepsteaks Ltd. (operator of Stake.us), streaming platform Kick, and prominent gaming vendors — including Evolution, Hacksaw Gaming, Pragmatic Play, and Big Time Gaming — for allegedly collaborating to run an illegal sweepstakes-based gambling operation targeting Californians.
Playtech was not listed in the lawsuit.
The complaint seeks injunctions and penalties, signaling aggressive state enforcement that bypasses individual arbitration barriers and raises the stakes for both sweepstakes casino operators and their software partners.
In response, Pragmatic Play announced to Next.io that it would stop providing Unites States sweepstakes casinos with its games. And that was after Evolution also pulled its games from Stake.us earlier this week.
Why is this lawsuit one to watch?
This lawsuit is significant because it’s the first of its kind.
It’s different because it’s the state of California suing Stake.us and these companies, not an individual or group of individuals. We’ll see if other states now try this route as well.
State enforcement actions (like California’s lawsuit) carry much more weight because they involve the government using its authority to regulate and enforce state law. This shifts the issue from being “just a consumer complaint” to a public legal and regulatory concern.
A state-filed case signals that California believes the defendant or defendants is/are violating state gambling or consumer protection laws, which makes it similar to if the Attorney General issued cease-and-desist letters, for instance.
Also, class action lawsuits usually aim for financial settlements or refunds for affected players. A state lawsuit can go much further — including injunctions, civil penalties, restitution, and potentially even referral for criminal prosecution.
Thus, you have motivation for the decisions from Evolution and Pragmatic Play — and now Playtech, even though it wasn’t even named in the lawsuit.
