Ryan Seacrest Sued for Allegedly Promoting Illegal Gambling

Posted on: May 2, 2025, 11:01h. 

Last updated on: May 2, 2025, 11:01h.

Corey Levitan Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

A new lawsuit is suing Ryan Seacrest for promoting an illegal online casino. The suit was filed against the “American Idol” host by a California resident named Aubrey Carillo, who alleges that she lost money in an online casino Seacrest promotes on social media.

According to TMZ, which broke the story Friday, Carillo claims in her suit that ChumbaCasino.com, a social online casino, operates illegally in California. Therefore, Seacrest promotes illegal gambling by posting paid advertisements for the website, contributing to the rise of online gambling addiction among adults and adolescents.

Seacrest, Out!!

Chumba does not operate illegally in California, however, though it is banned from operating in Connecticut, Michigan, Montana, Nevada and Washington. Unlike traditional online casinos, Chumba operates under a sweepstakes model, allowing it to be legal in most US states, including California, without requiring real-money gambling licenses.

California prohibits real-money online casinos and poker, but permits sweepstakes casinos because they don’t involve direct wagering. Players use virtual currencies, and winnings are treated as sweepstakes prizes, not gambling profits.

Chumba Casino is operated by Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW), an Australian company founded in 2012. It’s one of the longest-running and most popular social casinos in the US, offering over 200 casino-style games, including slots, blackjack, roulette, poker, bingo and slingo.

VGW announced a 12-month partnership with Seacrest in December 2023, though no dollar figure for the deal was disclosed.

Carillo’s suit, which also names VGW as a defendant, seeks an injunction to shut down the website in California and stop Seacrest from generating any further money for the gambling site.

TMZ quotes “a source close to the situation” who labels this as “just a nuisance lawsuit.”