Software supplier Miomni believes it has made a major breakthrough in the ongoing legal battle over provision of its services to US operator Delaware North and its West Virginia sports betting interests.
High Court Judge David Edwards QC has told EnterG Software Solutions Ltd that it has until the end of today (Monday 3 June 2019) to comply with a court order to provide Miomni with a list of ‘Kill Switches’ that allegedly have been inserted into the Miomni Platform code.
It further commands EnterG to inform Miomni of when these kill switches were introduced into the code and how Miomni can disable them.
Mionmi was in the UK courts last week defending its position in the deal with Delaware North. The two firms had entered into B2C and B2B joint ventures in the state, with Mionmi supplying technology at the operator’s two West Virginia casinos and through a B2C site BetLucky.com and plans going forward to offer B2B services together to other operators across the US.
However betting has been suspended since 6 March, with a contract dispute between Miomni and a supplier originally cited as the reason. Delaware North has since filed a lawsuit in Delaware against Miomni claiming it misrepresented its ownership of a key part of the sports betting platform and is making a claim for monetary damages and the 49% share that Miomni has in BetLucky.com.
However Miomni is standing firm against those accusations and last week the UK’s High Court saw the supplier defending its role in the situation, saying it did indeed have the rights to use the software which is in dispute. This led Judge Edwards, after a lengthy examination of the facts, to issue a court order against Cyprus-based EnterG, who reportedly didn’t show up for the hearing.
Mionmi has been relatively silent since the interruption of supply of sports betting services in West Virginia and this new court order suggests why. Given time and a hearing in court, it is confident that its conduct has been unimpeachable.
The fact that Miomni continues to provide services for casinos in Nevada, which has the reputation of having the most fastidious gaming regulators in the world, would arguably back up that claim.
As contract disputes go, this is a messy one thanks to claims of extortion, bad faith, fraud, misrepresentation and land grabbing. With potential contract disputes in at least two jurisdictions, it might get messier still. There are also a lot of questions surrounding the EnterG company itself.
With the UK High Court’s action suggesting a leaning in favor of Miomni, the supplier will be hoping for similar treatment in Delaware.
