Attorney General James Sues Game Developer for Promoting Illegal Gambling Through Video Games

So you're telling me there's a chance... while i am clearly not an attorney, not qualified to assess, nor provide any type of legal assessment or advice, this is an overall positive development in the video game community.  Not an exact mirror of our unfortunate situation with EA Tiburon / Orlando, but this aggression cannot stand, man.  EA goes out of their way to ensure players aren't able to sell coins (or cards) on the open market, for real money, but we all know that it still happens.  It's extremely rare to find a Madden content creator who isn't directly sponsored by coin resellers.

Valve’s Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, and Dota Games Have Slot Machine-Like Features That Entice Users to Pay for the Chance to Win Rare Prizes That Can Be Exchanged for Money

Lawsuit Alleges Valve’s In-Game “Loot Box” Feature Violates New York’s Gambling Laws and Can Lead to Serious Harms, Especially for Young People

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-sues-game-developer-promoting-illegal-gambling-through

I can think of an array of other games (Madden?) that have slot machine-liek features that entire users to pay for the chance to win rare prizes.  It's only the "that can be exchanged for money" portion that differs here.  To all the choads continually blaming the playerbase and whales for how or why these microtransactions have become to prevalent,  your ire is misplaced.  We have existing laws that make this sort of shit illegal.  We just lack the will to enforce those rules, because our society is beyond broken and corrupt.  The more you know.

Here's an article about it, if you'd prefer to not read through the actual press release.  I tend to prefer original source material, hence the above link.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/02/new-york-sues-valve-for-enabling-illegal-gambling-with-loot-boxes/

Many companies are taking advantage of the lax regulatory environment to push the envelope.  We're seeing that here.

put me down for class action lawsuit please

peatrick said:

So you're telling me there's a chance... while i am clearly not an attorney, not qualified to assess, nor provide any type of legal assessment or advice, this is an overall positive development in the video game community.  Not an exact mirror of our unfortunate situation with EA Tiburon / Orlando, but this aggression cannot stand, man.  EA goes out of their way to ensure players aren't able to sell coins (or cards) on the open market, for real money, but we all know that it still happens.  It's extremely rare to find a Madden content creator who isn't directly sponsored by coin resellers.

Valve’s Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, and Dota Games Have Slot Machine-Like Features That Entice Users to Pay for the Chance to Win Rare Prizes That Can Be Exchanged for Money

Lawsuit Alleges Valve’s In-Game “Loot Box” Feature Violates New York’s Gambling Laws and Can Lead to Serious Harms, Especially for Young People

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-sues-game-developer-promoting-illegal-gambling-through

I can think of an array of other games (Madden?) that have slot machine-liek features that entire users to pay for the chance to win rare prizes.  It's only the "that can be exchanged for money" portion that differs here.  To all the choads continually blaming the playerbase and whales for how or why these microtransactions have become to prevalent,  your ire is misplaced.  We have existing laws that make this sort of shit illegal.  We just lack the will to enforce those rules, because our society is beyond broken and corrupt.  The more you know.

Yeah but you can't legally exchange madden cards for money. That's why they are so strict on banning people who sell coins. They are making 1.6b a year on all of their ultimate teams. I'd say they have their crap together and if it comes down to it, they have enough money to buy any politician in this political mess we are in. Little guy will never win again in this country.

imbuying lamar and getting in deep on this lawsuit, his card will be worth all the trouble one way or another

Big gaming will and has paid off lobbyists to gain access to the offices that write these laws and leave in loop holes that make it impossible for them to change much you see how bad it’s got 100$ bundle was insane just a few years ago now we have thousand dollar step up offers

Bottom line: You can’t argue that EA is responsible for promoting gambling as codified, as their Terms of Use explicitly disallows exchanging digital licenses for cash.

EA’s lawyers are good.

On the other hand, EA continues to be on slippery legal ground with their means of enforcing their Terns of Use without adequate remedies for false positives. The thing is, no Attorney General is going to concern themselves with such a relatively small issue of no concern to the public at large.

phatalerror said:

Bottom line: You can’t argue that EA is responsible for promoting gambling as codified, as their Terms of Use explicitly disallows exchanging digital licenses for cash.

EA’s lawyers are good.

On the other hand, EA continues to be on slippery legal ground with their means of enforcing their Terns of Use without adequate remedies for false positives. The thing is, no Attorney General is going to concern themselves with such a relatively small issue of no concern to the public at large.

Might take a few years, and/or a few administrations, (assuming we survive that long), but I assure you that gambling is about to become an issue of great concern to the public at large. Think of the children. We've gotta do it for the children.

Fake news. We all know the odds when opening packs. By law EA has to put that on the pack. Other than that..   WE are the dumb dumbs that spend the money. EA isn't doing anything wrong. Every year they push it, to see how dumb we are, spending $1400 on packs to get Lamar. Wtf people!! Come on.

Buccs4047 said:

Fake news. We all know the odds when opening packs. By law EA has to put that on the pack. Other than that..   WE are the dumb dumbs that spend the money. EA isn't doing anything wrong. Every year they push it, to see how dumb we are, spending $1400 on packs to get Lamar. Wtf people!! Come on.

Wrong. This is straight up victim blaming. EA is the abusive spouse in this relationship. I mean, you're only partially wrong -- I'm a grade A moron for sticking around here, but I can only speak for myself. I'm also a full blown MUT addict, at sad as that is to have to admit.

Squads is still fun, but shouldn't cost us a thousand dollars worth of virtual playing cards every season, oof.

peatrick said:

Might take a few years, and/or a few administrations, (assuming we survive that long), but I assure you that gambling is about to become an issue of great concern to the public at large. Think of the children. We've gotta do it for the children.

In a system of law and order, I really don't want a world where the foolish actions of third parties are held against me when I abide by the law.

"Do it for the children" is not the issue. The issue is parents giving their children the permission to be foolish. My parents taught me how to use my earnings, and I learned the value of money at a young age. Raising entitled children just makes them naïve and vulnerable to manipulation.

* I'm not a parent.

EA has skirted around this issue for years.   Back in madden 10 you could use cash to buy coins and packs in game.  They changed it to buying in game currency  ( madden points) to avoid the direct use of cash to buy in game content.  This has allowed them to basically say people are paying cash for madden points, not paying cash for packs.  Madden points are not a "slot machine" or a form of gambling, you spend a set amount of cash for a set amount of points.

Look up citizens united. Lobbyists control our government.ea is protected by so many lawyers.but hey I’m down for class action suit .