On Thursday, consumers filed a
class-action complaint in the Northern District of California against Google for hosting social casino phone apps, illegally profiting from gambling games, and being a co-conspirator with technology companies who developed the social casinos.
According to the complaint, for about the last ten years, “the world’s leading slot machine makers – companies like International Game Technology, Scientific Games Corporation, and Aristocrat Leisure – have teamed up with American technology companies to develop a new product line: social casinos,” which are gambling apps that mimic the “‘Vegas-style’ experience” of slot machine gambling.
The plaintiffs asserted that the social casino companies, “along with Google, Facebook, and Apple (the Platforms), have found a way to smuggle slot machines into the homes of consumers nationwide.” (Neither the slot machine makers nor Facebook and Apple are party to the lawsuit.)