December 18, 2024
Scientific Games’ successor Light & Wonder Inc. must battle arbitration from customers accusing the gambling company of monopolizing the automatic card shuffler market using fraudulently obtained patents, after an arbitrator said there’s no need to individually assess the arbitration provisions of all roughly 112 class members.
Arbitrator John Wilkinson’s decision, in favor of the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort in upstate New York, likely represents the first time an antitrust arbitration case has won class certification, according to the casino’s counsel at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
Wilkinson, an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association, concluded that the class — of approximately 112 members who’ve purchased or leased automatic card shufflers from Light & Wonder Inc. and its subsidiaries between 2009 and 2022 and signed arbitration agreements — bears all the hallmarks required for class action status.
More importantly, Wilkinson rejected Light & Wonder’s arguments that Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, which exists on paper as Mohawk Gaming Enterprises LLC, is barred from class certification under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Lamps Plus v. Varela , which held that a would-be class representative couldn’t get certification because his arbitration agreement didn’t allow for class action status.
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Counsel for Akwesasne Mohawk Casino hailed the decision.
“This landmark decision certifies what we believe to be the first-ever arbitration antitrust class — a result that illustrates the ability of arbitrations to handle the most complex matters. This thorough ruling also denied the defendant’s motion for summary judgment,” Cohen Milstein’s Michael Eisenkraft said in a statement. “We look forward to advancing this case through the arbitration process.”
Mohawk Gaming is represented by Michael B. Eisenkraft, Manuel J. Dominguez and Robert A. Braun of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Michael Steifman and Fran L. Rudich of Steifman LLP, and Joseph Goldberg, David A. Freedman and Vincent J. Ward of Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward PA.
Read 1st-Ever Arb. Antitrust Casino Class Certified In Shuffler Suit.