Poker Pro Gordon Vayo filed a lawsuit against PokerStars parent company Rational Entertainment Enterprises Ltd late last week for allegedly retaining his 2017 Spring Championship of Online Poker Tournament (SCOOP) winnings of $700,000.
The suit filed in the District Court for the Central District of California claims Vayo was denied the winnings as PokerStars claimed he violated U.S. law and their terms and conditions by playing from within the United States of America.
A press release distributed by Vayo’s legal counsel Gregory Fayer accuses PokerStars of “engaging in a pattern of fraudulent conduct” by encouraging US citizens to play on their site using a certified account while displaying indifference to their physical location, “while they spend their money on the site”.
The press release goes on to claim that only once a large sum of money is won, does the online poker operator launch an investigation, accuse the player of playing from within the US in violation of PokerStars terms and conditions, and refuse to pay their winnings.
The case documents filed can be read here.