Case Info
Seeger Weiss is investigating claims of costly gambling addiction in teens and children who, while underage, signed up for and used the online gambling app Stake.
Age verification for Stake may have been inadequate, allowing underaged users to sign up. Children’s use of the app may have placed them and their parents or caregivers at risk of addiction and financial loss. In some cases, children have spent tens of thousands of dollars on Stake gambling.
Underage Online Casino Gambling on Stake
Online gambling app Stake may have contributed to gambling addiction in teens and children. While many gaming apps may mimic gambling and pose a risk of financial loss, some apps like Stake offer access to a variety of actual gambling. Underaged users may be introduced to slot machine type play, dice games, poker and other card games, and may gain access to sports betting on both e-sports and real sporting events.
Use of Stake gambling app by children may have created financial losses reaching into the tens of thousands of dollars due to a child’s gambling addiction. In addition, families may have been forced to pay for extensive addiction treatment, therapy and counseling for their children who have developed gambling addiction.
Online Gambling Addiction in Teens and Young Persons
Both in-person and online gambling may become an addiction due to stimulation of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter affecting the brain. It may produce an actual “high” which can spiral into addiction. Children and teens may be particularly susceptible to screen-related addiction including online gambling addiction
Gambling addiction may also increase the risk of development of other types of risky behavior or addictions due to the dopamine pathways which gambling may have created.
Children may have been placed at risk of:
- Gambling addiction which may reach into adulthood
- Requirements of expensive addiction treatment, therapy and counselling
- Financial losses for the child or parents
- Increased chance of other types of risky behavior or addiction
If you, while underage, became addicted to online gambling and suffered financial losses after using the Stake app — or if your child developed a gambling addiction and caused financial losses through their use of Stake — compensation may be available.