Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced Thursday that her office has sued the owners and operators of Stake.us, alleging the online gambling site is unlicensed and operating illegally in California.<\/p>\n
The Public Rights Branch within the City Attorney\u2019s Office is managing the case, which was filed with the Superior Court of California on August 28. The lawsuit alleged violations of California\u2019s Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law, and seeks to stop Stake.us from operating in the state.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the lawsuit aims to recover funds lost by Californians since Stake.us started offering online gambling to state residents and to impose civil penalties to deter future misconduct.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the moniker of `America Social Casino,\u2019 and despite claims that it is just a game, Stake.us is a rouge and real money gambling racket with destructive repercussions for its players,\u201d Feldstein Soto said in a statement. \u201cWe are holding Stake.us and its accomplices accountable for violating the law, targeting California for these illegal activities and facilitating addictive gambling behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n
The site bills itself as a \u201csafe and free gaming experience\u201d and a \u201csocial casino\u201d without real-money gambling, according to the city attorney\u2019s office. But Feldstein Soto alleged Stake.us functions like a traditional casino, offering more than 1,900 games \u2014 including slots, table games and live dealer options \u2014 with prizes redeemable for cryptocurrency or digital gift cards, in violation of California gambling laws.<\/p>\n
The company attempted to bypass U.S. gambling regulations, as well as state laws, by creating Stake.us, a carbon copy of Stake.com, the city attorney\u2019s office said. The websites share the same layout, games, graphics, colors and user interfaces, according to the city\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Stake earned approximately $4.7 billion in gross revenue \u2014 a large portion coming from the United States, including from California, the city attorney\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
For individuals struggling with problem gambling, confidential and free support is available through the California Department of Public Health with the following resources:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Call 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) to connect with a live, master\u2019s-level counselor any time, day or night;<\/p>\n
\u2014 Send \u201cSUPPORT\u201d to 53342 to receive information and assistance via text message. Standard messaging rates may apply; and<\/p>\n
\u2014 Access real-time support through the online chat at 800gambler.chat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced Thursday that her office has sued the owners and operators…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2451,3722,90708,16759,2961,379,224,5337,4549],"class_list":{"0":"post-201376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-city","11":"tag-enterprise","12":"tag-files","13":"tag-gambling","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-lawsuit","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-online"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}