The State of Connecticut has suspended the gaming license for High 5 Games for acting as an illegal casino.
High 5 Games was charged with 1,065 criminal counts of conducting illegal gaming activity in Connecticut. The state is accusing High 5 Games of accepting money from about 1,100 people in Connecticut on the High 5 Casino platform, including 108 who have signed up for the voluntary self-exclusion list.
“It is a privilege to hold this license, and we expect our credential holders to take that responsibility seriously,” said Bryan T. Cafferelli, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection director.
“High 5 Games took advantage of their credential to mislead consumers into believing they were participating in gaming on a legal platform when, in fact, they were breaking the law.”
A Connecticut DCP investigation found that High 5 Casino acted as a licensed casino by taking in $937,938 in wagers, including more than $300,000 from the 100-plus on the self-inclusion list.
Only DraftKings and FanDuel, which have a partnership to operate with the state’s two brick-and-mortar casinos Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, are licensed to operate online casino games in Connecticut.
“We are disappointed that a licensed gaming service provider took advantage of Connecticut consumers by operating an illegal casino platform,” said DCP Gaming Division Director Kris Gilman.
“It is difficult to recover funds for consumers from illegal platforms. We remind consumers that gambling on licensed platforms is the only way to guarantee recovered funds in the event of an issue with a game or platform.”
Aside from criminal accusations, Connecticut is also mandating that DraftKings and FanDuel remove any High 5 Games from their platforms.
As a Class A misdemeanor, each criminal count comes with a fine of up to $2,000 and a potential of one year in prison for violators of Connecticut gaming laws.
In response to the gaming license suspension, High 5 Games said: “We are committed to cooperating with Connecticut regulators to resolve this matter and maintain the integrity of our gaming licenses.”