Shells is a nurse from Houston, 37 years old. She and her husband spend at least two hours a day playing a smartphone game called Jackpot Magic.
There are many typical casino games in this app, including their favorite, Reel Rivals games. In it, players collect points by playing a virtual slot machine. Just like in a real casino, players exchange money for betting chips.
Unlike a real casino, there is no way to wager money or get paid in chips.
However, this did not stop Shells and her husband from spending about 150 thousand dollars on the game in just a couple of years. She asked to use her in-game name so that her family would not know how much money she spent on the game.
“We are lying on the bed next to each other, we have two tablets, two phones and a computer, and there are applications everywhere running, simultaneously playing Reel Rivals,” she says. "For the two of us, this has become the norm."
Jackpot Magic is an app created by Seattle-based Big Fish Games, one of the leaders in the free-to-play social gaming industry, in which some people have invested thousands of dollars. Big Fish Games has another similar app called Big Fish Casino. Both are considered video games, which allows this and other companies to not fall under the highly regulated category of gambling in the US.
But unlike the gambling market, apps like Jackpot Magic and Big Fish Casino are bypassing the law, and it is impossible to decide yet whether they are fair or how predatory such a business model is.
NBC News spoke to 21 people, including Shells and her husband, who said they were hooked on casino-style games and spent significant amounts of money on them. They reported that they felt helpless and wanted to end it, but felt addicted to games and lured by the company's aggressive marketing tactics.
Most of these players have chosen to remain anonymous because they are ashamed of their addiction and do not want their families to know about their behavior.
A 42-year-old woman from Pennsylvania said that she was saddened by the $ 40,000 spent at the Big Fish Casino while she herself works as an addiction prevention and psychotherapy specialist.
“All the time I worked as an addiction specialist, I was addicted to gambling, with no hope of winning back my money,” she says.
Big Fish Games did not agree to be interviewed and did not answer our detailed questions. In previous court orders, the company has argued that only a small percentage of players spend real money.
In response to inquiries from NBC News, the company released a statement stating that its games are not gambling and should not be regulated as gambling.
"These games are not gambling because, among other things, they do not provide players with the opportunity to win money or anything of value," the statement said.
“Our games are purely for entertainment and provide consumers with the opportunity to spend money in the game to improve the gaming experience. The vast majority of Big Fish Casino and Jackpot Magic Slots consumers play without paying any money. Not a single court has yet made any decisions regarding the way these games function, ”it says.
Due to successful legal claims in recent months, players have received some protection.
After a long legal battle, 2 million players, including Shells and her husband, will have the opportunity to recover a small fraction of their losses - roughly 20% for those who lost between $ 10,000 and $ 100,000.
The money will come in the form of a $ 155 million class action claim announced at the end of July. The money will be paid following two major lawsuits against Big Fish Games, its former owner Churchill Downs and Australian parent company Aristocrat Leisure. The lawsuit accuses them of "possessing illegal gambling devices."
The preliminary arrangement was recently approved by a federal judge in Tacoma, Washington. Churchill Downs and Aristocrat Leisure declined to comment on the outcome of the lawsuit. Aristocrat Leisure in May released a publicstatement with a general description of the settlement agreement, but did not provide other details.
While Big Fish Games admits no fault, it has agreed to implement "addiction-related resources" and a "self-exclusion policy" that will allow players who feel they have lost control of themselves to apply to be blacklisted for the game.
Big Fish Games also declined to comment on the settlement.
Some gamblers are happy to have recouped some of their losses, but gambling experts and some lawmakers say not enough has been done to help those whose lives have spiraled out of control after being addicted to social casino games. They are calling for further regulation of this industry.
“We would welcome, as part of this settlement, the industry's call to change its business practices,” said Keith White, executive director of the National Council on Addiction .
“I think their model is so profitable, and in some ways so aggressive, that they double the pressure, doing much more damage. I think the industry will rein in itself over time, but now it seems to be favoring short-term profits at the expense of long-term sustainability and accountability, ”White said.
A game
Joanne, 46, who lives in southwestern Florida, says she started playing at Big Fish Casino about eight years ago.
She estimates she spent $ 100,000 on the game.
“Do you know what I tell people? That this is a cult, they lure you, and once you get there, you can't get out, ”says Joanne, who asked for only her middle name. "You want to play, you want to spin the drums."
One of the plaintiffs in the settlement is Crystal Fair from Texas, who said in a statement that she spent $ 500,000 and called herself "addicted" to Big Fish Casino, saying that she sometimes plays "almost 24 hours a day."
“I decided to give up the game altogether, but then I thought about all the time and, more importantly, all the money, and it became difficult for me to quit it all,” she wrote. "So I realized that I was addicted."
She concluded the conversation as follows: "But if I could go back in time to the moment when I installed Big Fish Casino, I would never do it."
Several people said they felt the apps were designed to have users spend money in many different ways, including tier club systems for players who spent significant amounts of money and free chips for those trying to quit. ...
Dallas-based Suzy Kelly previously reported on Reveal Newsabout how she spent 400 thousand dollars on the game. To pay for her addiction, she took out a loan secured by household property and spent the money inherited from her mother.
When she tried to delete her account several times, she received a call from a "VIP company representative" offering free chips to keep playing.
In some respects, Big Fish's apps are similar to many other apps that allow you to play casino games on smartphones.
The main screen of Big Fish Casino, called the "lobby", invites players to try their luck at different types of games, including roulette, blackjack, Texas hold'em, video poker and the most prominent game on the screen: the slot machine.
Shortly after installing the app, it motivates players to join clubs - Big Fish Casino even offers a "one-time bonus" for joining a club of 50,000 chips. After joining a club, players can use chat to communicate with other players and build friendships. Although any user can create a club, real activity only occurs in ranked clubs that compete with each other and which can only be entered by invitation.
Big Fish, traffic and profit of Jackpot Magic app
Average monthly session time and monthly profit.
Winning more chips and playing at higher stakes will unlock new features such as rooms for big players. There is also a system of "levels" and "stages" that are unlocked when players spend more and win. The higher the levels, the larger the potential winnings and the higher the stakes, which can lead to the loss of chips faster.
Losing players looking to keep playing in the big player rooms can recover their digital riches either by playing for hours, or by taking the simpler route: buying more chips.
Most people playing Big Fish games don't spend real money. Less than 10 percent of users made purchases of virtual items, according to an October lawsuit .
But that 10 percent turns out to be a profitable business. Between February 2019 and July 2020, Big Fish Games received approximately $ 139.3 million from players at Big Fish Casino and Jackpot Magic, according to data provided by Apptopia.
The app's level system combined with its social features can be a dangerous trap for some players. Joanne revealed that she continues to play because Big Fish Casino is giving her a daily set of free chips ("boost"). Even so, she spends at least $ 600 a month, mainly to maintain her status at the club.
“I want to leave the club, I want to stop, but I have friends,” she says.
Big Fish Games is one of the clearest examples of unificationentertaining harmless video games; and the rapidly expanding world of real money gambling.
While paid features have appeared in many video games in recent years, including loot boxes - a mechanism for paying small, fixed amounts in exchange for a small chance of winning in-game prizes that has drawn the ire of some legislators , no other type of video game seems to be. allows players to lose so much money and does not encourage them to constantly spend more.
But at the moment, nothing prevents the existence of such games for smartphones, reminiscent of gambling. Not a single federal law interferes with this model, nor does it compensate for the losses created by such games. The Washington state legislature was considering a bill that would formally not consider games like Big Fish Casino gambling, but it was not approved.
Some users of Big Fish games have filed class action lawsuits against the company, claiming that its games should be regulated like traditional gambling, but this is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.
For example, regular slot machines are subject to rigorous independent testing to ensure that the odds are consistent for all players. Nevada has rules on how many slot machines caninstalled in liquor stores , as well as hundreds of pages of other regulations.
In Washington State, where Big Fish Games is located, slot machines are completely banned . However, residents of Washington can download the game for their smartphones, which allows gamblers to experience almost the same experience as playing on a real slot machine, only without the slightest chance of winning money.
However, recent court victories have provided little support for some players, especially as many have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Neeva Barker, 58, a retiree from Portland, Oregon, says she spent about $ 80,000 at Big Fish Casino and is glad she can get some of the money back.
They are especially needed now because, according to Barker, she has lost some of her income due to cuts related to the coronavirus.
“There have been a lot of dramatic changes lately,” she says. “I thought it was a myth and it will never happen. Today this payment will change a lot for me. "