AviaGames Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Use of Bots in Online ‘Skill-Based’ Games
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A proposed class action accuses AviaGames of pitting its online game players against computer bots in what are supposed to be skill-based competitions played against other human opponents.
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The 86-page lawsuit out of California says AviaGames—which runs gaming platform Pocket7Games and offers popular standalone game apps like Solitaire Clash, Bingo Clash and Bingo Tour—advertises that users can wager money to compete against “real players of similar skill levels” in “fair skill-based cash games.”
However, contrary to these representations, the defendant’s games are filled with—or controlled by—bots purposely programmed to rig game outcomes in Avia’s favor, the complaint alleges.
According to the filing, the company’s use of bots means that its games are neither “fair” nor “skill-based,” but rather manipulated games of chance. Avia’s practice of matching gamers with bots also contradicts its assertion that it has “no financial interest in the outcome of cash games” and no “stake in who wins or loses,” the suit contends.
“When there are not real players, Avia has a financial interest in the outcome of the game because Avia collects all prize money ‘won’ by the Avia’s [sic] bots,” the filing says.
By providing games of chance for money without complying with the applicable California statutes, Avia has positioned itself as an operator of an illegal gambling scheme, the filing contends.
The complaint further argues that Avia’s co-founders, Vickie Chen and Ping Wang, and its investors, ACME and Galaxy Digital Capital Management, have violated federal racketeering laws by “knowingly and intentionally” supporting an illegal gambling scheme.
The case alleges that these individual and corporate defendants, through their creation, operation and funding of Avia, “strived to attract as many players as possible, incite them to deposit money and wager to participate in cash games, and then, by skillfully rigging the games, siphon money from the players regardless of the players’ skills or their performance in a particular match.”
One of the suit’s plaintiffs, a Texas resident who estimates he lost thousands of dollars playing Pocket7Games and Bingo Clash, says he decided to play the games because he thought he was competing against real people with similar skill levels. In fact, the filing notes, all of Avia’s apps ask players to wait until it matches them with purported “opponents” for the game.
Had the plaintiff known the games were populated or controlled by bots rather than human players, he would not have continued to spend money on the apps, the suit claims.
The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who has lost money playing any of Avia’s games, including the following:
- Pocket7Games
- Solitaire!
- 21 Gold
- Pool Clash
- Tile Blitz
- Dunk Shot
- Dominoes
- Fruit Frenzy
- Explodocube
- 2048 Blitz
- Word Search
- Bingo Clash
- Match n Flip
- Bingo Tour
- Solitaire Clash
- 8 Ball Strike
- Bubble Buzz
- Blockolot
- Bubble Miracle
- Bingo Flash
