Privately owned Rational Entertainment Enterprises Limited, the parent firm of PokerStars based in the Island, has won a major legal case in the US.
The case against the Rational Group, filed in the State of Illinois, had been brought by Kelly Sonnenberg on behalf of her son and a possible million other Illinois residents who had online poker accounts with PokerStars prior to Black Friday in April 2011.
It was alleged that the plaintiffs lost money on PokerStars and as PokerStars was allegedly operating an illegal gambling operation at the time the plaintiffs were entitled to reclaim that money under Illinois? Loss Recovery Act.
PokerStars filed an application for the case to be dismissed alleging failure to state a claim and lack of personal jurisdiction.
Online Casinos.com reports that Chief Judge David R Herndon at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, dismissed the class action suit against the firm, stating that PokerStars was similar to a third party service provider and unless it could be proven that the defendants had participated in the games themselves, and won bets placed at the tables, they could not be considered liable for the losses of others.
The case could have cost PokerStars millions of dollars had it gone against them.