A new class action lawsuit in Kentucky is taking a page from the state’s playbook when it comes to dealing with offshore gambling sites.
Kentucky resident Billi Jo Woods filed the class action against the online gambling site Bovada and its ownership, which includes Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, Alwyn Morris, Calvin Ayre, and Harp Media BV.
Woods alleges she lost thousands of dollars gambling on Bovada, which she alleges violated Kentucky law by accepting wagers from residents of the state.
Defendants have violated Kentucky law, which governs Plaintiff’s and the Class’s claims, and Defendants have illegally profited from tens of thousands of consumers. Accordingly, Plaintiff, on behalf of herself and a Class of similarly situated individuals, brings this lawsuit to recover their losses, as well as costs and attorneys’ fees,” the suit read.
The suit relies on an old Kentucky law that allows those who have sustained losses from gambling to seek restitution from those that profited off them. It is the same statute invoked in a 2010 lawsuit where the state of Kentucky successfully sued PokerStars for $300 million in damages.
The complaint cited both members of Congress and the American Gaming Association in its assertion that Bovada is not operating within the scope of the law. It is seeking co-defendants who have also lost more than $5 in a 24-hour period gambling on the site and reside in Kentucky.
Woods’s suit is accurate that both Congress and the AGA have put pressure on the Department of Justice to take action against offshore operators like Bovada and America’s Cardroom with no real results so far.
