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Amazon to pay $200M in social casino lawsuit settlement
Amazon has settled a 2023 class-action lawsuit connected to its sales of virtual casino chips, with the company having agreed to pay $200 million to members of the dispute.
First filed by Nevada resident Steven Horn, the lawsuit accused Amazon of violating Washington gambling laws and processing payments for virtual casino chips through its Amazon Appstore. Initially, the technology and e-commerce company denied the allegations; however, it has now chosen to settle the case instead of continuing to fight it.
The lawsuit against Amazon claimed:
“Defendant Amazon owns and operates an app store where users can gamble on their mobile devices in Vegas-Style social casino apps. Amazon aggressively markets and distributes these social casino apps to consumers’ Amazon and Android devices. As such, Amazon is liable as a co-conspirator to an illegal gambling enterprise and conspiracy.”
Additionally, the lawsuit argued that Amazon took around 30% of each virtual casino chip transaction, effectively making it a participant in illegal gambling and not just a marketplace. In its response, Amazon fought back that developers are the ones responsible for following the law.
With the settlement now in place, members of the class-action lawsuit are set to become the sole beneficiaries of a $200 million trust, which they can use to pursue reimbursement from 32 gaming developers.
Amazon’s motion for preliminary approval stated:
“Under this framework, the class stands to recover from the developers themselves a significant percentage of the class’s damages in an amount that falls directly in line with the prior developer settlements.”
The agreement means that all claims against the company have now been resolved.
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