Players sue AviaGames for racketeering for disguising bots as humans in skill-based games

AviaGames’ legal troubles grew as players filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for allegedly using bots in what are supposed to be human-to-human skill-based games.

The class-action lawsuit represents players of games made by AviaGames, and it stems from copyright/patent litigation by Skillz against AviaGames. Skillz accused AviaGames of copying its skill-based games, where human players wager money against each other. This is not considered gambling because it does not involve games of change; rather, it’s human skill that wins the day.

During the course of that litigation, Skillz said it uncovered evidence that Mountain View, California-based AviaGames, which raised $40 million in venture capital, deceived players by pitting humans against unbeatable bots instead of against real humans. Skillz said this constituted illegal gambling, and now the class-action suit alleges both fraud and racketeering. A federal grand jury is also investigating AviaGames.

“The entire premise of Avia ...