- Playtika moved to dismiss Washington’s suit over 16 casino-style apps, with oral argument noted for August.
- The state says Washingtonians spent more than $225 million in the apps since September 2020.
- Texas defines a thing of value as any benefit, a wider test than the one Washington spent years litigating.
- Texas licenses no online casino, leaving social casino and sweepstakes apps as the state’s working online market.
SEATTLE – Playtika has asked a King County Superior Court judge to dismiss Washington’s lawsuit seeking more than $225 million over 16 social casino apps, arguing the games fall outside state gambling law because players are never required to pay to keep playing.
Playtika Leans On A 2014 Commission Brochure
The motion points to an “Another Chance” feature that supplies free currency when a player’s balance runs too low to make a minimum bet, and to years of Washington State Gambling Commission materials, among them a 2014 consumer brochure headed “No Prize = No Gambling = OK To Play,” KOMO News reported.
The commission took the opposite view in January 2025, warning that games of chance asking a player to wager virtual currency for the potential of winning more virtual currency are likely to constitute illegal gambling.
Complaint Puts $151 Million On Playtika, $74 Million On Aristocrat
Attorney General Nick Brown filed the case in King County Superior Court on Feb. 3, 2026, as Case No. 26-2-04647-6 SEA. The complaint alleges Washington players made more than 8 million purchases in Playtika’s apps and more than 2.25 million in Aristocrat’s apps since September 2020. It puts that spending at $151,650,549.61 in Playtika’s apps through July 2024 and $74,473,239.70 in Aristocrat’s apps through May 2024.
It puts monthly active Washington players at roughly 96,350 for Playtika and 56,870 for Aristocrat, and describes one account that made 757 chip purchases totaling $38,214.43 over about 45 months.
The state brought claims under the Recovery of Money Lost at Gambling Act, RCW 4.24.070, and the Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19.86. It asks for an injunction, restitution, disgorgement of revenues and a civil penalty of $7,500 for each Consumer Protection Act violation.
The Theory Rests On A 2018 Appeals Court Ruling
The state builds on Kater v. Churchill Downs Inc., 886 F.3d 784, in which the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held in 2018 that virtual coins in casino apps are a thing of value under Washington law. Kater and a companion case settled in August 2020 for $155 million, and Playtika separately paid $38 million to resolve Washington claims.
Texas Counts Any Benefit As A Thing Of Value
Washington needed a federal appeals court to establish that a coin balance carries value. Texas wrote the wider rule into statute. Section 47.01 of the Texas Penal Code defines a thing of value as “any benefit,” and excludes only “an unrecorded and immediate right of replay not exchangeable for value.”
Coin, chip and credit balances in social casino apps are recorded to a player account and persist between sessions, which puts them outside that narrow carve-out on the face of the statute. Gambling promotion is a separate offense under Section 47.03.
State courts have already been trimming the exceptions. A Texas court ruling on eight-liners in March applied the consideration, chance and prize test to the noncash-prize exception game rooms had relied on and found the machines ran afoul of the constitutional lottery ban, triggering seizures across the state.
Texas licenses no online casino, so social casino and sweepstakes products dominate what players reach for among Texas gambling sites.
Texas sweepstakes casinos run a closer variation still, awarding a second currency redeemable for cash prizes, which places them nearer the statutory definition rather than further from it.
What Comes Next In King County
Aristocrat Leisure Limited, Aristocrat Technologies Inc., Big Fish Games Inc., Product Madness Inc., Plarium LLC and Pixel United Holdings Limited are named as co-defendants. The apps at issue include Slotomania, House of Fun, Bingo Blitz, Big Fish Casino, Heart of Vegas and Cashman Casino.
Argument on Playtika’s motion is noted for August in King County Superior Court.