Class action complaint filed against PokerStars' parent company dimissed in Illinois

Class action complaint filed by Kelly Sonnenberg against PokerStars’ parent company Rational Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (REEL) has been dismissed by Chief Judge David R. Herndon of the United States Discrict Court for the Southern District of Illinois, which could have cost the company millions of dollars.

Kelly Sonnenberg, who filed the complain, claimed to represent a class of « hundreds of thousands – possibly millions – of Illinois poker players » who lost money playing online poker and sought to recover damages Under the State’s Loss Recovery Act (LRA), which permits an award of triple the amount los tat illegal gambling to be recovered from the winner. The contention between the two sides seem to be centered on the word “winner” from these online poker games, which Kelly Sonnenberg felt REEL was and the company argued it wasn’t. According to Rational collecting a rake from each hand played in PokerStars doesn’t mean it was automatically a “winner”, nor did it participate in or benefit from any of the outcomes of all the hands played on its site. On the other hand, Kelly Sonnenberg argued that under the statute of the LRA, the rake was enough for Rational to be considered a “winner”.

Since the LRA authorizes recovery of money only from a “winner” of gambling losses, it had to decide and differentiate the two sides’ arguments. Chief Judge Herndon made the ruling, describing PokerStars as a third party service provider that provides a venue for players to play poker. The ruling also stated that PokerStars did not have any stake on how the games were decided. “This is a major victory for PokerStars and instructive for other online gaming providers facing similar attacks from plaintiffs seeking unjust windfalls,” said Jeff Ifrah, founder of Ifrah Law, which represents REEL.

Sources: Pokerfuse and Calvyn Aire