Las Vegas-based law firm Bailey Kennedy announced on Feb. 27 that it had received a partial summary judgment in favor of client The Talisman Group. The ruling went against Light & Wonder and subsidiary LNW Gaming.
At issue was Talisman’s EZ Baccarat game. LNW Gaming was accused of “marketing British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s … competing no-commission baccarat game, Ruyi Baccarat, to casinos, while LNW was still under contract with Talisman.”
Nevada Eighth Circuit Judge Joanna Kishner found in favor of the plaintiffs. She ruled that LNW had violated a “strategic-alliance agreement” with Talisman “by marketing Ruyi Baccarat (a competing product) and taking ‘preorders’ from casinos to lease Ruyi Baccarat … while LNW was still under contract with Talisman.”
Kishner held that the strategic-alliance agreement expired on September 8, 2023, and that LNW “began marketing Ruyi Baccarat to casinos on August 4, 2023.” According to an official Bailey Kennedy statement, the Lottery had “formerly leased EZ Baccarat from LNW until it introduced Ruyi Baccarat in 2020.”
The next stage of the case is taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia. Lawyers for both sides have been deposing Lottery officials.
“Talisman is a two-person gaming company going up against one of the largest gaming companies in the world,” said Bailey Kennedy attorney Joshua Gilmore, who argued the case in Nevada. “We are extremely pleased that the court has ruled in our client’s favor on this important issue.”
CDC Gaming contacted Light & Wonder, who responded, “we do not comment on pending litigation.”
