High5Games Faces Illegal Gaming Charges
High5Games will face 1,065 criminal counts of conducting illegal gaming activity in Connecticut and has lost its Connecticut Gaming License with immediate effect.
The Department of Consumer Protection Gaming Division in Connecticut launched an investigation into an illegal casino run by High5Games, which also supplies legal content to properly licensed casinos FanDuel and DraftKings. The regulator found that High5Casino was an illegal casino that claimed to be fully licensed and accepted wagers from Connecticut residents, including 108 who had already signed up to the statewide Voluntary Self-Exclusion List.
Those players alone lost $300,000, and the investigation found that more than 1,100 Connecticut players had deposited and gambled at the High5Casino, losing a combined total of $937,938.
Big Fines, Even Jail Time Coming?
High5Games will now face more than 1,000 criminal counts of conducting illegal gaming activity. Each one is a Class A misdemeanor that carries a potential penalty of a $2,000 fine and a year in prison. The DCP in Connecticut will also seek restitution for the players who lost money at the illegal casino. The company’s license has been suspended with immediate effect, and both FanDuel and DraftKings have been instructed to remove their games.
DCP Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli said, “Thank you to our Gaming Division team for their hard work in holding this licensee accountable. It is a privilege to hold this license, and we expect our credential holders to take that responsibility seriously. High5Games took advantage of its credentials to mislead consumers into believing they were participating in gaming on a legal platform when, in fact, they were breaking the law.
“We remind consumers that there are only two licensed online casinos in Connecticut — DraftKings/Foxwoods and FanDuel/Mohegan Sun — and if you choose to participate in online gaming, you should only utilize one of the legal platforms licensed to operate in our state.”
DCP Gaming Division Director Kris Gilman added: “We are disappointed that a licensed gaming service provider took advantage of Connecticut consumers by operating an illegal casino platform. It is difficult to recover funds for consumers from illegal platforms. We remind consumers that gambling on licensed platforms is the only way to guarantee recovered funds in the event of an issue with a game or platform.”
