Any industry in which large sums of money continually pass hands is likely going to see its fair share of lawsuits. This is especially true in the gambling market, as companies and individuals regularly face off in court over all types of issues – from gaming licenses to disputes over winnings.
One of the most recent lawsuits to emerge from the online casino world is being fought between JRR Tolkien’s Estate and Warner Bros. In 2010, Warner Bros granted a gaming license to Microgaming, allowing the company to create an online slots game based on the Lord of the Rings movie series.
The game was a huge success, and Microgaming planned for two sequels. Unfortunately, the Tolkien estate and Harper Collins intervened. The games were pulled from the online casino market, and Warner Bros was sued for taking too many liberties with licensing the brand.
The lawsuit became even more brutal when Warner Bros launched a countersuit. The Tolkien estate prohibited the film studio from licensing any more casino games, and Warner Bros claims that it has hindered its ability to make more money from the film series.
The studio claims that the estate’s lawsuit “has harmed Warner both in the form of lost license revenue and also in decreased exposure for the Hobbit films”.
Several years ago, Marvel and Cryptologic became embroiled in a bitter legal battle regarding the licensing of Marvel Superhero slots games. Cryptologic was the first gambling developer to launch a series of games based on Marvel Superheroes.
The designer was under the impression that its license was exclusive; however, PlayTech soon debuted its own series of Marvel slots. Cryptologic filed a lawsuit against Marvel and six months of arbitration resulted in an ‘amicable settlement’.
The terms of Cryptologic’s gaming licenses were rewritten to ensure that the contract was non-exclusive and the company received a reduce rate. However, we’re not entirely sure exactly how beneficial this agreement actually was for Cryptologic.
On a personal level, gambling lawsuits take place all the time, as friends and co-workers fight over rightful lottery and slots winnings. One of the most famous cases is Iacono vs Lyons, in which Mary Iacono took her friend Carolyn Lyons to court over a $1.9 million lottery jackpot.
Mary claimed that she was invited on a trip to a casino as her Carolyn’s lucky charm, who also offered to split all of her winnings with her. After winning a nearly $2 million slots jackpot, Carolyn refused to give Mary her ‘fair share’. Her lawyers denied that any such agreement was made, and the case was dismissed.
