Ryan Seacrest faces lawsuit over allegedly promoting illegal gambling in California
Ryan Seacrest, known for presenting American Idol and Wheel of Fortune, is reportedly facing a new lawsuit that accuses him of promoting an illegal online casino in California.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, California resident Aubrey Carillo is suing Seacrest, claiming she lost money playing on ChumbaCasino.com, a site he regularly promotes on his social media as the operation’s official celebrity endorser.
In the lawsuit, Carillo claims that ChumbaCasino.com is operating illegally in California, and by promoting it through paid ads on his social media, Seacrest is thereby endorsing illegal gambling. She also argues that his involvement is helping fuel the growing problem of online gambling addiction among both adults and teens.
Another player appears to have also complained about gambling harms. Credit: Instagram / Chumba Casino
ChumbaCasino.com doesn’t actually operate illegally in California. While it’s banned in a few states like Connecticut, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, and Washington, it runs under a sweepstakes model rather than a traditional online casino setup. The model allows it to legally operate in most US states, including California, without needing a real-money gambling license.
She even alleges that a child in her own family was able to access the site. Carillo is suing both Seacrest and Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW), the Australian company behind ChumbaCasino.com, and is asking the court to shut the site down in California and block Seacrest from making any more money through his promotions of it.
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