Two social casino apps run by New York-based High 5 Games have been declared unlawful in the state of Washington by a federal judge. According to the state's Recovery of Money Lost at Gambling Act (RMLGA), the corporation may be liable for millions of dollars in damages following Judge Tiffany Cartwright's June 11 order in Western Washington District Court. “That's not toy money; that's actual money” according to 

Cartwright concurred with former player Rick Larsen, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, who claimed that the games broke both the RMLGA and the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA). If players wish to keep playing after using up all of their virtual bankrolls, they must buy more coins with real money. Court filings show that Larsen played the apps for $7,470.50.

Anyone who bought virtual currency for one of the applications in Washington after April 9, 2014, may be eligible to obtain damages through a class action lawsuit. That's important since gambling is defined by Washington as "risking something of value to receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome in a contest of chance or a future contingent event, not under the person's control or influence."

Washington is not like other jurisdictions where cases pertaining to the "value" of virtual playing chips have been filed. The plaintiffs in the Big Fish lawsuit split a $155 million settlement. Cartwright concluded that the virtual currency of High 5 "functions identically" to that of Big Fish.