The US District Court issued a lawsuit against Apple, accusing the technology giant of hosting, facilitating and profiting from illegal social casino apps
A new lawsuit issued by the US District Court accuses Apple of unlawfully profiting from social casino apps. The main compliant lies in the free-to-play social casino apps, from which Apple takes a 30% stake. It is also reported that Apple shares underlying data from these apps to developers.
It is reported that Apple monetized players through these ‘extraordinarily profitable and high addictive’ apps, with customers spending $6 billion on virtual casino chips in 2020 from Apple’s social casino apps.
A complaint, curated in the U.S District Court for California, highlighted concerns over unlawful practice for Apple saying:
Not only can players never actually win money, but their financial losses are maximized by deceptive gameplay tweaks that would never be allowed in a legitimate slot machine.
By utilizing Apple for distribution and payment processing, the social casinos entered into a mutually beneficial business partnership,
In addition, the lawsuit accuses Apple of facilitating the distribution of illegal casino games through its App Store. Beyond hosting, facilitating, and profiting from illegal social casinos, the company is also accused of sharing embedded data analytics with developers.
The lawsuit claims that:
The result (and intent) of this dangerous partnership is that consumers become addicted to social casino apps, maxing out their credit cards with purchases amounting to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars,
Source: iGB
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