A legal battle may lay ahead for the Old Dominion. Indeed, the dispute between Bill Stanley, of the Stanley Law Group, and the Virginia State Lottery has heated up today, with the filling of a subpoena requesting documents regarding the state agency's relationship and communications with Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC (Eckert).
The case focuses on the ever-growing influence of casino operators in the state and how this has negatively impacted the region’s skill games market.
Specifically, Stanley has claimed that the state’s lottery service worked with Eckert, in the knowledge that he was in cahoots with out-of-state casinos that wished to destroy the region’s skill games market and thus dominate the growing gaming market.
"The injunction by the federal court in Pennsylvania indicates continued serious ethical violations on the part of the attorneys representing the large out-of-state gambling companies working against Virginia small businesses like my client, Hermie Sadler," commented Stanley.
"This subpoena requesting certain documents from the Virginia Lottery is a critical piece of our legal argument before the Greensville County Circuit Court that Virginia did not have a valid and compelling state interest to ban skills games.”
Proceedings began in February 2020 after Pace-O-Matic, a developer of skill games throughout the US, claimed that Eckert was engaging in “obvious subterfuge” in order to further the interests of out-of-state casino brands in Virginia.
Stanley has outlined his case in clear terms, stating: "The Lottery knew or, at minimum, should have known Mr. Stewart represented out-of-state casinos committed to dominating the state's gaming industry by making skills games illegal in Virginia. Nevertheless, the Lottery entered into a contract with Mr. Stewart and Eckert to provide advice on who should be allowed to participate in the emerging gaming marketplace in Virginia.
“Eckert had proprietary and privileged knowledge about the skills game industry when they met with state and local regulators, elected officials and prosecutors regarding the legality of skills games in Virginia. They worked directly against the interests of skill games, their manufacturers, and Virginia small businesses.”
