Casino operator Delaware North expected to capitalize on March Madness, the largest annual sports gambling event in the U.S. behind the NFL Super Bowl. It had everything lined up and all signs pointed to go but, at the last minute, its sports gambling partner, Miomni Gaming, was forced to pull the plug over a dispute with one of its third-party partners. Now, Delaware North is looking for payback and has filed a lawsuit against the UK sports gambling software provider.
Delaware North has filed a lawsuit against Miomni, and CEO Michael P. Venner, in Delaware. It alleges that the company and its top man misrepresented Miomni and committed fraud by not disclosing “a key part of the BetLucky sports-wagering platform.” In doing so, Miomni breached its joint-venture contract with the casino operator.
Delaware North had expected to partner with Miomni Gaming for a long time for its two casinos in the state, Mardi Gras Casino & Resort and Wheeling Island Hotel Casino. The two companies signed their joint partnership last year and expected to begin offering sports gambling sometime during the fall of 2018.
It would be almost the end of December, after a series of delays, before the BetLucky gambling app and the sportsbooks at both properties were finally launched. No reason for the delays was ever made public and the platform was forced to shut down unexpectedly on March 6, only a week before March Madness got underway.
Later in March, Delaware North cut off the relationship with Miomni over a contract dispute Miomni had with yet another third-party partner, Entergaming. That entity had been contracted to supply the betting technology for the sports gambling platform. Delaware North asserted at the time that it was considering its options regarding how to proceed, and it apparently has opted for litigation.
Venner had told Delaware North that the company owned “the intellectual property rights in the platform, including the source code underlying the ‘front-end interface’ and the ‘back-end’ of the platform.” However, it had only licensed the solution from Entergaming and never paid the license fee, causing that relationship to fall apart. Delaware North asserts in its lawsuit that it has uncovered a number of irregularities and that it “became clear that Miomni and Venner had engaged in an ongoing pattern off misrepresentation and bad faith.”
