A Court authorized the notice because you have a right to know about a proposed Settlement of this class action lawsuit and about all of your options before the Court decides whether to give final approval to the Settlement. You may be eligible to receive a cash payment as part of the Settlement. The Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, and your legal rights.

Judge Robert S. Lasnik of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington is overseeing this class action. The lawsuit is known as Benson et al. v. DoubleDown Interactive, LLC et al., Case No. 2:18-cv-00525 (W.D. Wash.). The people who sued, Adrienne Benson and Mary Simonson, are the “Plaintiffs.” The companies that got sued are DoubleDown, International Game Technology, and IGT.

A class action is a lawsuit in which an individual or individuals called “Class Representatives” bring a single lawsuit on behalf of other people who have similar legal claims. All of these people together are a “Class” or “Class Members.” Once a Settlement Class is certified, a class action Settlement finally approved by the Court resolves the issues for all Settlement Class Members, except for those who exclude themselves from the settlement class. 

The lawsuit claims that Defendants violated Washington State’s gambling laws and Washington’s Consumer Protection Act through the sale of virtual chips in the following social casino-style games: DoubleDown Casino, DoubleDown Fort Knox, DoubleDown Classic, and Ellen’s Road to Riches. These laws allow recovery of money lost on Defendants’ casino-style games. Defendants deny all claims and that they violated any law.

The Court has not decided whether the Plaintiffs or Defendants should win this case. Instead, both sides agreed to a Settlement. That way, they avoid the uncertainties and expenses associated with ongoing litigation, and Settlement Class Members will get compensation now rather than years from now, if at all.

More information about the Settlement and the lawsuit are available in the Important Documents tab on this website, or by accessing the Court docket in this case, for a fee, through the Court’s Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system at https://ecf.wawd.uscourts.gov, or by visiting the office of the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, Seattle Courthouse, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Court holidays.

The Court decided that everyone who fits this description and chooses not to request to be excluded is a member of the Settlement Class:

All individuals who played DoubleDown Casino, DoubleDown Fort Knox, DoubleDown Classic, and/or Ellen’s Road to Riches, while in the United States, on or before November 14, 2022. Excluded from the Settlement Class are (1) any Judge or Magistrate presiding over this Action and members of their families, (2) the Defendants, Defendants’ subsidiaries, parent companies, successors, predecessors, and any entity in which a Defendant or its parent has a controlling interest and their current or former officers, directors, and employees, (3) persons who properly execute and file a timely request for exclusion from the Settlement Class, and (4) the legal representatives, successors or assigns of any such excluded persons.

If you received a notice of the Settlement via email or in the mail, our records indicate that you are a class member and are included in the Settlement. If you are not sure whether you are included, you can call the Settlement Administrator at 1-844-633-0698. Or you can get free help by calling the lawyers appointed to represent class members in this case at 1-855-466-4697.

Defendants established a Settlement Fund totaling $415,000,000. Settlement Class Member payments, as well as the cost to administer the Settlement, the cost to inform people about the Settlement, any attorneys’ fees and costs awarded by the Court, and any incentive awards to the Class Representatives approved by the Court will come out of this fund.

DoubleDown has also agreed to make available to players of its games information about video game behavior disorders, a voluntary self-exclusion policy, and changes to its games that allow continued gaming without having to purchase additional virtual chips.

Settlement Payments were calculated in accordance with the Plan of Allocation.

On October 3, 2023, Settlement Payments were distributed to Settlement Class Members who filed valid claims. 

The deadline to file a claim was April 11, 2023.

You gave up your right to sue Defendants for the claims being resolved by this Settlement. The specific claims you gave up against Defendants are described in the Settlement Agreement in Section 1.30. You “released” Defendants and certain related parties (collectively, the “Released Parties”), described in Section 1.31 of the Settlement Agreement. Unless you excluded yourself (see FAQ 14), you released the claims, regardless of whether you submitted a claim or not. The Settlement Agreement is available through the Important Documents tab on this website.

The Settlement Agreement describes the released claims with specific descriptions, so read it carefully.  If you have any questions you can talk to the lawyers listed in FAQ 12 for free by calling 1-855-466-4697, or you can, of course, talk to your own lawyer if you have questions about what this means.

If you did nothing, you won’t get any monetary benefits from this Settlement. But, unless you excluded yourself, you won’t be able to bring or participate in any other lawsuit against Defendants for the claims being resolved by this Settlement.

The Court has appointed a group of lawyers at the firm Edelson PC to represent the Settlement Class. Those lawyers— Jay Edelson, Rafey S. Balabanian, Todd Logan, Alexander G. Tievsky, Brandt Silver-Korn, and Amy Hausmann—are called “Class Counsel.” They are experienced in handling similar class action cases. More information about these lawyers, their law firm, and their experience is available at www.edelson.com. They believe, after conducting an extensive investigation, that the Settlement Agreement is fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class. You will not be charged for these lawyers. If you want to be represented by your own lawyer in this case, you may hire one at your expense.

The Court also appointed Plaintiffs Adrienne Benson and Mary Simonson as the Class Representatives.
 

Class Counsel attorneys’ fees and costs were paid from the Settlement Fund in an amount determined and awarded by the Court. Each Class Representative was paid an “Incentive Award” from the Settlement Fund for helping to bring and settle this case.

The deadline to request exclusion from the Settlement was April 11, 2023.

The deadline to object was April 11, 2023.
 

The Settlement received final approval on June 1, 2023.

The Notice summarizes the Settlement. More details are in the Settlement Agreement. You can get a copy of the Settlement Agreement and other relevant court filings on the Important Documents tab. You can also get all public information about this case by accessing the Court docket, for a fee, through the Court’s Public Access to Court Electronic (PACER) system at https://ecf.wawd.uscourts.gov, or by visiting the office of the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, Seattle Courthouse, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Court holidays. You may also write with questions to the Settlement Administrator, DoubleDown Settlement, c/o JND Legal Administration, PO Box 91047, Seattle, WA 98111. And you can call the Settlement Administrator at 1-844-633-0698 or Class Counsel at 1-855-466-4697, if you have any questions. Before doing so, however, please read the full Notice carefully.

PLEASE DO NOT TELEPHONE THE COURT OR THE COURT CLERK’S OFFICE TO INQUIRE ABOUT THIS SETTLEMENT OR THE CLAIM PROCESS.  All questions regarding the Settlement or claims process should be directed to the Settlement Administrator or to Class Counsel.