Court dismisses disgruntled social gamer’s lawsuit against DoubleDown Casino

A federal judge has dismissed a class action suit brought against DoubleDown Interactive, the social casino division of gaming device maker International Game Technology (IGT).

Last April, Illinois resident Margo Philips filed a class action suit against the gaming operator, accusing DoubleDown Casino’s games of being “nothing more than camouflaged unlawful games of chance.”

Philips said she’d lost over $1k of real money gambling with virtual chips she purchased on DoubleDown over a two-year period. Philips further claimed that DoubleDown had “illegally profited” from the “thousands” of other Illinois residents that Philips claimed had each lost at least $50 via the social casino site.

Philips sued to recover both her own losses as well as all these other social gamers’ losses using the Illinois Loss Recovery Act (ILRA), one of those daffy nineteenth century statutes that allows individuals to sue for recovery of “illegal gambling” losses, including losses by third parties.