Cracking Down: Cases Filed Over Online Casinos

Online gambling has changed dramatically over the last few decades. What once required a trip to a casino floor can now happen from a phone, tablet, or laptop. While technology has made entertainment more accessible, it has also raised serious legal and consumer protection concerns—especially when companies operate outside the law.

Beasley Allen lawyers Dee Miles, Clay Barnett, Mitch Williams, and Trent Mann are representing plaintiffs and proposed class members across several states, including Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Ohio, and Oregon, in class action lawsuits involving online casino platforms that plaintiffs allege are operating illegally.

The defendants include companies behind popular online platforms such as Modo Casino, Fortune Coins, Stake, High 5 Casino, and Chumba Casino.

Familiar Playbook—Repackaged for the Digital Age

At the center of these lawsuits is a system plaintiffs say turns real‑money gambling into a sweepstakes in name only. According to the claims, players purchase virtual “gold coins,” marketed as entertainment. With each purchase, they also receive “sweeps coins,” which are then used to play casino‑style games like slots, poker, and blackjack.

While gold coins have no cash value, sweeps coins can be won, redeemed, and withdrawn as real U.S. dollars, creating an experience that closely mirrors traditional gambling. Plaintiffs argue this two‑step structure is designed to work around state gambling laws while allowing the platforms to operate like unlicensed online casinos.

They also contend this approach is nothing new. Nearly three decades ago, internet cafés used similar tactics—offering games that looked and felt like slot machines while claiming to be legal promotions. Courts ultimately shut many of those operations down, finding they were structured to avoid gambling laws rather than follow them.

The current lawsuits argue these online platforms are simply the modern version of that same strategy, updated for the internet but built on the same concept.

Why These Lawsuits Matter

States regulate gambling for a reason—to protect consumers, prevent abuse, and ensure that lawful operators contribute tax revenue. Plaintiffs allege that these online casino platforms:

• Allow unlawful gambling within state borders
• Fail to protect consumers
• Avoid licensing requirements
• Bypass state oversight
• Do not pay gambling‑related taxes

The lawsuits seek to recover gambling losses under each state’s gambling loss recovery laws and to hold these companies accountable for operating outside the legal framework.

What Comes Next

Dee Miles, Clay Barnett, Mitch Williams and Trent Mann, attorneys in Beasley Allen’s Consumer Fraud & Commercial Litigation Section, continue to pursue these class actions on behalf of consumers and taxpayers with Mitch Williams coordinating the cases. As these cases move forward, courts will be asked to decide whether these online platforms are truly sweepstakes—or illegal casinos operating behind a digital façade.

This is just the beginning.