VGW, Ryan Seacrest named in California lawsuit
Suit among dozens against VGW alleging illegal real-money gambling
The ongoing legal issues for sweepstakes casino and online-poker provider Virtual Gsming Worlds (VGW) when a plaintiff in one of the many suits against the company has tried a new tactic, naming Chumba Casino celebtity endorser Rysn Seacrest as an additional defendant in the case.
California resident Aubrey Carrillo has added Seacrest to an ongoing action against Virtual Gaming Worlds and Virtual Gaming Worlds US, which operates the Chumba Casino, Luckyland Slots, and Global Poker sweeps-based sites. The original lawsuit dates back to February, and for a couple of months a turf battle raged over whether the case would be heard at the state or federal level.
In late March, the mtter was remanded back to the state level, and is in the Riverside County court system. Seacrest has allegedly aided VGW’s alleged illicit-gambling activity by Ryan is promoting illegal gambling by “posting paid advertisements for Chumba on social media and by appearing in promotional materials on the Chumba Casino website,” according to TMZ.
Adding Seacrest as a celebrity endorser was all but assured of drawing in some press coverage. VGW typically does not respond typically to lawsuit-related matters, but yesterday, the company did so, reasserting its primary claims that the company offers its services in accordance with applicable state-level laws across the US.
That’s true enough… as far as it goes. What the statement doesn’t acknowledge is that VGW has already pulled its sites from a handful of US states and is being targeted by active anti-sweeps legislation in many more. And the consumer lawsuits? There are dozens of them, scattered across the US. Some of those have been filed in federal district courts, while others are in state-level courts that are not part of the federal system. Most of these cases ultimately wind up in state-level courts, because gmbling matters tend to be state-by-state issues.
Global Poker always endangered by VGW-targeting actions
Carrillo’s lawsuit is larger than most, alleging the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars via the enticements of noth the site and Seacrest’s endorsements. Seacrest also isn’t the only celebrity endorser the Australia-based company employs. Over at Global Poker, the celebrity endorser is Michael Phelps, the famed Olympic swimming champion who also plays a little poker on the side.
None of the VGW lawsuits I’ve checked into so far have targeted Global Poker or Phelps, but that matters little to VGW’s corporate outlook. Chumba Casino and Luckyland Slots are the larger revenue engines, and in the handful of states where VGW has agreed to cease offering its services, all three sites have been yanked. (VGW offers casino games inside of Global Poker, anyway.)
So Global Poker goes only as far as VGW and sweeps-based sites in general, and that window is slowly but surely closing, state by US state. Three years? Five? We’ll look back at it down the road as the “sweeps era”. Yes, there’s always ClubWPT Gold’s newer sweeps-based site, and unlike Global Poker, that one’s poker only, but the same fate is likely to come to that site as well.
Enjoy the likes of Global Poker and ClubWPT Gold for now. They’re an interesting development, but they’re not going to last. Ultimately, perhaps after they’ve been forced to withdraw from 20 or 25 state, VGW will pack it up and call it a day.