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Losing addicts: this is how casino applications 'bleed' millionaire fortunes

2020-09-15T13:38:07.500Z


"Do you know what I tell people? It's a cult, and they absorb you, and once you're inside you can't get out," denounces a player hooked on casino-style gaming apps. The losses are millionaire but it is difficult to escape.


Shellz, 37, a nurse from Houston, spends at least two hours a day with her husband playing a casino-style cell phone game called Jackpot Magic.

The app offers a variety of typical casino games, including his favorite, called Reel Rivals, a pastime in which players accumulate points by playing on a virtual slot machine.

Like in a real casino, players exchange money for gambling coins, known as tokens.

Unlike a real casino, there is no way to get money back or win a coin payout.

But that hasn't stopped Shellz, who asked to use her username in the game so her family won't know the money she's lost, and her husband from spending around $ 150,000 in just two years.

"We lay next to each other, we have two tablets, two phones and a computer, and all these apps spin Reel Rivals at the same time," he said. 

Graph of games in applications via internet NBC News

Jackpot Magic is an app created by Big Fish Games of Seattle, one of the industry leaders for supposedly free social games in which some people have invested thousands of dollars.

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Big Fish Games also operates a similar app, Big Fish Casino.

Both are labeled video games, allowing the company and others like it to bypass the strictly regulated US gambling market.

But unlike in the gambling market, apps like Jackpot Magic and Big Fish Casino have little oversight to determine if their practices are legitimate.

NBC News spoke to 21 people, including Shellz and her husband, who said they were hooked on casino-style games and had spent significant sums of money.

Amid feelings of helplessness and desires to quit smoking, they became addicted to games, tempted by the company's aggressive marketing tactics.

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Most of the 21 players asked to remain anonymous when interviewed, as they were ashamed of their addictions and did not want their loved ones to know of their behavior.

A 42-year-old Pennsylvania woman said she was beyond angry and saddened that she spent $ 40,000 at Big Fish Casino while working as an addiction counselor.

"The entire time I was working as a counselor for people with addictions, I was addicted to gambling and had no hope of getting any money back," she said.

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Big Fish Games declined to offer an interview and did not respond to specific questions about the allegations.

In statements issued in court, the company assured that only a fraction of players actually spend money.

The company issued a statement in response to questions from NBC News in which it assured its games are not gambling and should not be regulated as such.

"These games are not games of chance because, among other reasons, they do not offer opportunities for players to win money or anything of value," he defended in the statement.

"Our games are offered free of charge for entertainment only, with an opportunity for customers to spend money in-game to enhance their experience," he noted, "the vast majority of Big Fish Casino and Jackpot Magic Slots customers play without paying. money. No court has yet considered the factors related to the operation of these games. "

But lawsuits in favor of users against these types of companies have offered resources so that affected players can defend themselves.

After a lengthy legal battle, two million players, including Shellz and her husband, will be eligible to recoup a small portion of their losses, about 20% for those who lost between $ 10,000 and $ 100,000.

Big Fish Games;

its former owner, Churchill Downs;

and its current Australian parent company, Aristocrat Leisure, agreed in late July to pay $ 155 million in two class action lawsuits alleging they were operating "illegal gaming devices."

The preliminary agreement was recently approved by a federal judge in Tacoma, Washington.

Churchill Downs and Aristocrat Leisure declined to comment on the deal.

Big Fish Games, which also declined to comment on that agreement, does not admit any wrongdoing, although it has agreed to implement "addiction-related remedies" and a "self-exclusion policy" that would allow players who feel out of control to opt out. be blacklisted not to play.

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While some gamers are happy to recoup some of their losses, gambling addiction experts and some lawmakers say it is not enough to help those whose lives are out of control after they got hooked on these types of gaming apps. casino.

They call for greater regulation of the industry

"What we would have welcomed as part of this agreement as a wake-up call to the industry is a change in practice," said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.

"I think their model is so lucrative, and in a way so aggressive, that they are doubling down and it's going to do a lot more damage. I think it will eventually come under control, but they seem to be prioritizing short-term profit over sustainability and long-term responsibility, "Whyte warned.

The game

Joann, 46, who lives in southwest Florida, said she started playing at the Big Fish Casino about eight years ago.

He estimates that he has spent about $ 100,000 in this time.

"Do you know what I tell people? It's a sect, and they absorb you, and once you're inside you can't get out," warned Joann, who asked to use only his middle name.

"You want to play and you want to spin," he added.

One of the plaintiffs featured in the settlement is Crystal Fair of Texas, who said in an affidavit that she had spent $ 500,000 and described herself as "addicted" to the Big Fish Casino, sometimes playing "almost 24 hours a day. day".

"I've considered leaving forever, but then I think about all my time and, more importantly, all my money, and it's hard to walk away," she lamented, "that's how I know I'm addicted."

"But if I could go back to the time when I installed Big Fish Casino, I never would have," he concluded.

Several people said they felt the apps were designed to keep them spending money in various ways, including tiered clubs for players spending significant amounts of money and free chips for people trying to quit smoking.

Suzie Kelly from Dallas told Reveal News how she spent around $ 400,000.

She took out a home equity loan and used the money she inherited from her mother to finance her habit.

When she tried to cancel her account several times, Kelly said, a "VIP representative" called her and offered her free chips to keep playing.

The Big Fish apps are in some ways similar to many other apps that offer casino games that can be played on smartphones.

The Big Fish Casino home screen, known as the

lobby

, offers players the opportunity to try various types of casino-style games, including Roulette, Blackjack, Texas Hold 'em, Video Poker and the most prominent game: Slots.

Soon after installing the app, players are encouraged to join the clubs;

Big Fish Casino even offers a 50,000 chip "one time join bonus" for joining a club.

Once in a club, players can use a chat feature to strike up conversations with their counterparts and develop friendships.

While anyone can create a club, the real action is in the invitation-only ranked clubs that compete against each other.

Winning more chips and playing for higher stakes unlocks new features like high roller rooms.

There is also a system of "levels", in addition to other "levels" to unlock as players spend and earn more.

Higher tiers have higher potential winnings and higher stakes, making it easier to lose chips faster.

Players who lose but want to keep playing in high rollers rooms can do so by rebuilding their digital fortunes through hours of play or by taking a shorter route: buying more chips.

Most of the people who play Big Fish games don't end up spending real money.

Less than 10% of users have ever purchased virtual items while gaming, according to an October court file.

But that 10% has translated into a lucrative business.

According to data provided by Apptopia, an app analytics company, Big Fish Games reached an estimated 139.3 million players for its Big Fish Casino and Jackpot Magic games in just over a year, from February 2019 to July 2020.

The app's tier system, along with its social features, can be a powerful catch for some players.

Joann confessed that she continues to play, as Big Fish Casino awards her a set of free chips (known as "boost") every day.

Still, he said, he spends at least $ 600 a month, mainly to maintain his status within his club.

"I want to leave the club and I want to stop, but I have friends," he said.

No recourse

Big Fish Games is one of the clearest examples of converting the harmless fun offered by video games and the world of real money gambling.

While many video games have implemented premium levels in recent years, such as the well-known

loot boxes

, a mechanism to pay small, fixed fees for the possibility of winning in-game prizes that has drawn the ire of some legislators, no other type of game seems to allow players to lose so much credit so quickly and to be constantly encouraged to spend more.

But at the moment, there seems to be nothing stopping these casino-style games from continuing.

No federal legislation has the power to stop this model, nor would any legislation at the state level mitigate the losses created by this type of gambling.

Washington state legislators considered a bill that would have regulated practices like Big Fish Casino's from being considered conventional gambling, but it never came to fruition.

Some players of Big Fish games have filed class action lawsuits against the company, arguing that their games should be regulated just like traditional gambling, although such a petition is unlikely to be a reality in the foreseeable future.

Conventional slot machines, for example, are subjected to rigorous external testing to ensure that the odds of winning are consistent for all players.

In Nevada, there are rules about how many slot machines can be placed in liquor stores, among hundreds of pages of regulations.

In Washington state, where Big Fish Games is based, slot machines are completely banned.

Still, residents of this state can download a smartphone game that offers prospective players the opportunity to spend money on an experience almost identical to that of a slot machine in person, only without any chance of winning any money.

The recent legal victories are a welcome help for some players, particularly as many have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Neva Barker, 58, a retiree from Portland, Oregon, estimated that she had spent $ 80,000 at Big Fish Casino and said she was delighted to know that she would likely get some of her money back.

It's particularly necessary now because, Barker says, she lost some of her income to the coronavirus crisis.

"This has been through a lot of ups and downs," he said, "I thought it was a myth that it would ever happen. That would change my life right now.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2020-09-15

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