Crown Coins Sued in Ohio, VGW Faces New California Lawsuit + More

It seems like every day brings more big news from the USA sweepstakes casino industry. Today is no different, as two new lawsuits have been filed, plus another tribal group has stepped up to the plate in California to oppose the state's proposed sweepstakes casino ban. Keep on reading, and we'll fill you in with all the details.

Crown Coins Casino Parent Sunflower Sued in Ohio

This past week, a player in the State of Ohio, Kelly McNamara, has filed a class action lawsuit against Sunflower Ltd. and Sunflower Technology, Inc., operators of the sweepstakes casino Crown Coins.

McNamara, on behalf of herself and other affected players in the state, alleges that both properties operated by Sunflower, Crown Coins and iCasino, are illegal gambling operations according to Ohio law. McNamara is asking the court for damages related to gambling losses, plus an order for Sunflower to shutter their sweepstakes casinos in the Buckeye state.

This new Ohio lawsuit is rather interesting and unique, because Ohio has a law on the books from the 19th Century that gives gamblers and their families the right to recover monies lost due to illegal gambling in the state.

If the court manages to side with the plaintiffs in this case, it could set the stage for a mass exit from Ohio by sweepstakes casinos in short order. The liability for operators in Ohio would be astronomical if the court deems their sweepstakes games to be "illegal gambling" and recoverable under the state's ancient statute.

VGW, Slots Influencer Brian Christopher & Others Sued in California

VGW (Virtual Gaming Worlds), operators of Chumba Casino, Luckyland Slots, and Global Poker is finding themselves in hot water (again) out in California as defendants in yet another lawsuit.

This time they're not alone.

Last week in the US District Court for the Nothern District of California, a new lawsuit was filed, Brown et al. v. VGW Holdings US Inc. et al.

You might think that this is just another lawsuit against a sweepstakes casino, and usually nothing comes of them, but this case is unique in several respects.

First, VGW, the sweepstakes casino operator, is not the only defendant. Notice that the case name includes "et al," denoting other defendants in the case. What's really interesting is who they are.

In addition to naming actual individuals involved with VGW in the case, the plaintiffs are going after several others involved in services that support the VGW casino sites' operations, including:

• Brian Christopher (Misfud) - Markets VGW properties Chumba and Luckyland through livestreams, YouTube videos, and other venues.
• Jumio Corporation - Verifies player identities with their software utilized in VGW's online casino sites.
• Trustly, Inc. - Delivers deposits to sweepstakes winners bank accounts on behalf of VGW.
• Yodlee, Inc. - Another financial data and payments company utilized by VGW.

Interestingly enough, nearly all parties involved in the California case have ties to the state. Brian Christopher reportedly lives part of the year in California; Jumio, Trustly and Yodlee are all based or have offices in the state. Additionally, US General Manager for VGW, Derek Brinkman, is based in the San Francisco Bay area.

This new California lawsuit was originally filed in Montana. We previously reported its voluntary dismissal earlier this month, and it was quite perplexing to us when it happened. Now it has been moved to California.

The complaint is enormous, spanning well over one hundred pages and defines seven different class definitions. The plaintiffs moved the case to California, because all named defendants, with the exception of VGW founder Escalante, have ties to the state.

Adding uniqueness to this case is the fact that the players at the VGW casinos are not the plaintiffs in the case. Instead, the complaint is filed on behalf of the spouses of VGW players who have shared bank accounts with those players, but never agreed to the terms and conditions at a VGW online casino.

This clever maneuver may help the plaintiffs circumvent the arbitration clauses in VGW casino terms and conditions; these clauses have sunk many past attempts at class action lawsuits in the past.

If successful, the plaintiffs will be collecting damages under loss recovery laws that allow secondary parties to recover gambling losses.

Furthermore, the class action lawsuit is attempting to create sub-classes of affected parties in many other states, including GA, IL, KY, MA, MI, MO, NJ, NM, OH, SC, TN, WI and the District of Columbia.

This one looks like a doozy. We will keep you updated as the case progresses through the system.