Papaya Gaming ordered to pay $420m in landmark false advertising verdict

• The case included allegations of undisclosed bot use in cash tournaments.
• The court has awarded $420m in damages and a $719m disgorgement.
• Skillz claimed Papaya misrepresented games as fair and skill-based.

Papaya Gaming has been ordered to pay $420 million in damages following a US jury verdict that found the company liable for false advertising in a case brought by Skillz Platform. 

The ruling, delivered by a jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, also included a $719m disgorgement award, making it the largest Lanham Act judgment ever recorded.

Unfair practises 

The case stemmed from allegations that Papaya misrepresented its skill-based mobile gaming products as fair and bot-free. A complaint was filed in March 2024, alleging that Papaya used bots to simulate real players and manipulate results in cash-based competitions while marketing its games as purely skill-driven.

Skillz argued that these practices allowed Papaya to inflate engagement metrics, control win rates and encourage higher user spending through misleading claims about fairness and competition.

The jury found Papaya Gaming Ltd and Papaya Gaming Inc liable for false advertising and unfair business practices under the Lanham Act.