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If you are a resident of California and a customer of Chumba Casino, chances are you received a notice that the popular sweepstakes casino will be leaving the state. It's yet another blow to an industry that tries to make real money online casinos like real money sherlock and the mystic compass. among others, look bad. California itself does not license online casinos, Chumba included. The gaming app advertises nearly as much as Flo from Progressive. We should note that, while nearly all the real money internet casinos are licensed abroad, most do not accept customers from the Golden State.
Redditors discussed the news Monday.
"I just got a message saying Chumba Casino is no longer available in my region, California. Does anyone know anything about this?"
There was some speculation regarding a geofencing issue but a few people did receive the notification, including one in Sacramento, which is nowhere near the border of a state where Chumba is not available.
Late last month, gaming attorney Daniel Wallach explained the unique exposure for sweepstakes casinos in the Golden State.
"California or Florida, you may be completely out of luck since there is case law in those states (see here and here) which bars private civil lawsuits to recover gambling losses — even where a plaintiff is an unknowing participant in illegal gambling. This leaves many aggrieved consumers without any meaningful recourse.
"A more effective and efficient way to combat the proliferation of online sweepstakes casinos is through the vast civil enforcement powers of state attorneys general, who are typically authorized under state law to seek wide-ranging remedies such as injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement of profits, sequestration of assets, dissolution of the business, and civil penalties to address fraudulent or illegal activity — all without being burdened by arbitration clauses or issues of standing that can doom private civil lawsuits. Importantly, state attorneys general can also pursue second-tier actors — such as banks and payment processors — which materially assist and/or aid and abet illegal gambling operations.
"For example, in California, Sections 1703, 1704, and 1706 of the Business & Professions Code (commonly referred to as the “Unfair Competition Law”) authorize the Attorney General and other law enforcement officials (such as a district attorney, county attorney, or city attorney under specified circumstances) to sue in the name of the People of the State of California for injunctive relief, restitution, and mandatory civil penalties of up to $2,500 per violation to address unlawful business practices such as violations of the state’s anti-gambling laws.
"The California Attorney General’s Office has used this civil enforcement mechanism on numerous occasions to combat illegal sweepstakes gambling, with one recent case culminating in a multi-million dollar judgment and an injunction against a Canadian-based software supplier which provided slot machine-style gambling games to Internet sweepstakes cafés throughout California. (Also included in the stipulated final judgment were two Florida corporations, a Nevada limited liability company, and the principals of all three entities — all of whom were sued by the California AG under a state-law aiding and abetting theory)."
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