Nearly $25 Million Verdict Follows Landmark Court Ruling Finding High 5 Games Operated an Illegal Gambling Business
Tacoma, WA (February 7, 2025) – A jury has delivered the first-ever verdict against an online “social casino,” ruling that High 5 Games must pay $24,940,366.15 in damages to a class of Washington consumers who lost money to High 5. The jury found that the class and named plaintiff had suffered nearly $18 million in damages, and awarded additional “enhanced” damages under the statute of approximately $7 million. High Five argued to the jury that it believed it had done nothing wrong and that the class could not prove any amount of damages.
This damages verdict follows a court ruling last year that found High 5’s so-called “social casino” games constituted illegal gambling under Washington law. Social casinos offer slot machine games in smartphone applications and websites, where consumers are enticed to use real money to buy digital chips. Across the social casino industry, consumers have lost billions of dollars and have suffered from an epidemic of gambling addiction.
This victory is the first trial in the years-long fight by consumers represented by Edelson PC and Tousley Brain Stephens PLLC to hold social casino operators accountable for the reality of their business operations: that they are illegal gambling operations preying on vulnerable gambling addicts. High 5’s employees, according to evidence presented at trial, deliberately targeted users they called “whales”—Washingtonians who were addicted to gambling away large amounts of money in High 5’s social casino games. In at least one instance, a user who told High 5 she was addicted and needed her account shut off was instead lured back by High 5 with “free” coins to play more of the games. Many members of the class lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the online casino; at least one lost more than a million dollars.
Other social casino operators have chosen to settle short of trial in previous cases brought by Edelson and Tousley, collectively paying more than $650 million so far to people who lost money in their games.
The next front in the battle is Big Tech’s role in profiting from these illegal gambling enterprises, where Edelson serves as lead counsel in multi-district litigations against Amazon, Meta, Google, and Apple and Tousley serves on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee. Accused of acting as “bookies,” these tech giants arrange the payments between consumers and the casinos and take an astonishing thirty percent of every dollar gambled away in these illegal casino games.
“Big Tech isn’t just standing by—they’re cashing in,” said Todd Logan, partner at Edelson PC. “This verdict is a milestone, but it’s only the beginning. Some of our clients lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to their gambling addictions here, and Big Tech cannot be allowed to continue to profit off of these devastating addictions. We will continue fighting to ensure Big Tech answers for its role in enabling and profiting from illegal gambling.”
“Today’s verdict sends a clear message: online casinos that exploit consumers under the guise of ‘social gaming’ will be held accountable,” said Cecily Jordan, partner at Tousley Brain Stephens. “Ordinary people who have lost their life savings in these apps now have a jury vindicating them.”
For media inquiries, please contact: Eli Wade-Scott, ewadescott@edelson.com
About the Firms
EDELSON PC is a nationally recognized leader in high-stakes plaintiff’s litigation, including class actions, mass torts, and government enforcement actions. As lead counsel, the firm has recovered over $5 billion in settlements and judgments as lead counsel, with its overall settlements and judgments surpassing $45 billion. Edelson PC has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boulder, and Washington, D.C.
TOUSLEY BRAIN STEPHENS is a Seattle law firm with a nationally recognized class action and commercial litigation practice. Tousley Brain Stephens’s attorneys are nationally recognized in a multitude of complementary areas of complex civil litigation, including class actions, securities, and condemnation. In its nationwide class action practice, Tousley Brain Stephens has recovered more than $2 billion in settlements and judgments.