High 5 Games Social Casino Ordered to $25 Million in Damages to Washington State Players

Posted on: February 10, 2025, 05:42h. 

Last updated on: February 11, 2025, 08:37h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • High 5 Games must pay $25M to former Washinton state social casino players in class action
  • Washington is the only state to consider play-money casinos “real gambling” after 2018 ruling

A federal jury in Washington state has determined that residents who purchased virtual currency for High 5 Games social casino apps after April 9, 2014, could qualify for a share of a $24.9 million jackpot.

High 5 Games, damages, class action, Washington state
High 5 Games social casinos were ruled to be illegal in Washington state last year by a federal judge. On Friday, a jury awarded its former players just under $25M in damages. (Image: High 5 Games)

That’s the number a US District Court in Western Washington jury put on damages suffered by former players after the New York-based game studio was adjudged to have broken state gaming laws.

Judge Tiffany Cartwright ruled in June last year that High 5 Games’ social casino apps, High 5 Casino and High 5 Vegas, violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and the Recovery of Money Lost at Gambling Act (RMLGA).

The RMLGA states that all “persons losing money or anything of value … on any illegal gambling games shall have a cause of action to recover …  from the proprietor for whose benefit such game was played … the value of the thing so lost.”

Class Action

High 5 players receive free virtual coins when they register on tech platforms like Facebook, Google Play, and the App Store. Once they expend their virtual bankroll, they must purchase additional coins using real money to continue playing.

The class-action suit was initially filed in 2018 by plaintiff Rick Larsen, who claimed to have squandered $7,470.50 on the apps.

Subpoenas served by Larsen’s lawyers on major social media platforms suggested that Washington residents spent more than $21.6 million on High 5 apps between 2014 and 2023. However, Cartwright wouldn’t accept this as a definitive figure, ruling damages should be decided by a jury pending further discovery.

On Friday, the jury determined that High 5’s customers in Washington collectively “lost” nearly $18 million playing the apps and awarded an additional $7 million in statutory damages.

Big Fish Fried

In making her decision, Cartwright relied on a specific legal precedent in Washington state. In March 2018, federal appellate judge Milan D. Smith ruled that the virtual play chips used in the games of another social casino, Big Fish, could be considered to be “something of value” under Washington State law.

That’s crucial because the state’s laws define gambling as “risking something of value on the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the person’s control or influence to receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.”

Washington is the only state that has ascribed “value” to virtual playing chips. Cartwright determined that High 5’s virtual coins “function identically” to those of Big Fish,  which ultimately agreed to pay a $155 Million settlement to its former players.