Amazon has come to an agreement regarding an ongoing class-action lawsuit regarding purchase of virtual casino chips.
Preliminary approval of settlement worth US$201m has been filed in United States Court for Western District of Washington to the Amazon Web Services.
The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by Steven Horn who claimed that Amazon violated the consumer protection and gambling laws of Washington by allowing payments for social casino apps offered on Amazon Appstore.
The lawsuit claimed that Amazon acted as the payment processor in gaining revenue through in-app purchases of virtual chips charged 30% commission for payment processing.
However, even though Amazon denied the claims, opted to settle the lawsuit rather than continue fighting it in court.
As a part of the settlement, Amazon will not pay the persons affected directly as part of the settlement but reach a US$201m ruling and transfer the legal rights to collect the reimbursement from developers of social casino apps to the plaintiff.
The current case is part of a larger legal campaign against technology companies for their involvement with social casino platforms. Prior settlements with social casino developers have already returned over US$650m to consumers in different parts of America.