BetMGM and other casino interests are being sued by a resident of New Jersey who claims the firm rigged a promotional contest in the middle to give a high roller the top prize.

According to the lawsuit, plaintiff Lawrence Murk, who is paralyzed from the waist down and plays online games with one arm and voice control, participated in the "$2 Million Super Series" slot-machine promotion in May 2021.

During the contest period, he claimed to have wagered almost US$1.5 million on the allocated slot machines.

Go for the Top

The campaign was anything but polished. Players had to choose to participate and bet real money on particular "Featured Slot Machine" games, which varied every week for the duration of the month.

A player received one leaderboard point for each $1 wagered on the right featured games, and rewards were given out solely based on the total number of points won, not on the results of the games or player luck.

Lower-place finishers won smaller prizes, but the top finisher at the end of the month was promised $500,000 in casino bonus credits and 100 free spins every day in June.

In essence, it was a competition to spend the greatest money.

"I got excited when I realized this might be a contest I could win given that there was an open leaderboard and one scored points based on the number of dollars wagered on certain slot machines,” Murk told Casino.org.

“Using my logical mathematical mind, I realized that given these rules, I could win this competition. All I needed to do was to get into the lead and then there would be no way anybody could catch me,” he added.

“The open leaderboard meant that I could keep track of anybody trying to catch up to me at which point I could wager on the fastest wagering slot machine offered to ensure the competitor could never catch up .”

Murk argues that after dominating the leaderboard for 11 days, he was overtaken by a player who had not been listed before and was only identified in court documents as "mjbroker11969." The player's wagering total was abruptly posted as almost $800,000, when Murk had wagered about $350,000 up to that time.

After questioning the anomaly, Murk got in touch with Ryan Weiner, his VIP account manager, who he subsequently found out was also hosting mjbrojer. Weiner acknowledged, according to Murk, that Mjbrojer had not officially "opted in" to the promotion, but he was nevertheless added to the competition retrospectively.

Claim of Fraud

In addition, the plaintiff alleges that the mid-contest addition of the VIP and the modification of leaderboard points amounted to consumer fraud under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, breach of contract, and breach of a duty of fair dealing.

BetMGM contends that the operator is free to halt, alter, or terminate the promotion at any moment in accordance with its terms and conditions. The corporation claims that Murk signed the agreement to the terms.

In the end, Murk placed fourth and received a $50,000 bonus in lieu of the $500,000 grand prize that was advertised, along with a month's worth of free spins. In addition to requesting punitive and triple damages under the Consumer Fraud Act, he is suing for at least $600,000.