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Online gambling operators have reached out to Gambling911.com advising that a Maywood, New Jersey group is in the process of suing more than a dozen i-Gaming companies for patent infringement.
Lotto Tron is claiming to hold a Lottery patent, registered back July 1999 and a number of online casino groups may be in violation of said patent.
"Our lawyers say this is the most ridiculous lawsuit they have ever seen," said one operator who asked not to be identified.
The majority of defendants named are licensees of Real Time Gaming, an online casino firm. One of its major licensees is rumored to have paid out $100,000, though Gambling911.com is yet to confirm this.
The Abstract of the patent reads:
A wagering system for accepting wagers over communications systems comprising (a) automatic call director means for receiving incoming messages from subscribers who with to wager on the system, b) message means connected thereto for receiving the incoming messages routed from the ACD, and for playing a series of recorded audio messages requesting subscriber wager information to be input via telecommunications means, and (c) host processor means having storage means and being connected to the wagering VRU for receiving the subscriber wager information, storing it in a master subscriber wager file in the storage means, and assigning an associated ticket number to the wager.
Ironically, online casinos tend not to utilize phone call technology for wagering as opposed to the sports betting sector which still relies on such communications to some degree.
Operators, most of whom are based out of Curacao and Costa Rica, were expecting to be served in the coming two weeks.
"They are nothing more than patent trolls," said the operator.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
