Leon Tsoukernik is no stranger to court battles. This week, the King’s Casino boss chalked up a first-round victory in his $23,300,000 fight with social media giants Facebook over alleged illegal advertising.
As we revealed back in April, Leon launched the massive fraudulent advertising lawsuit after the social media giant carried fake and malicious casino adverts using his King’s Casino name and photos.
📰 Leon Tsoukernik sues Facebook!
He takes legal action against app fraud. He is suing Facebook for half a billion Czech crowns (about $23,000,000 US) for spreading misleading advertising of a casino app abusing the name of King's.https://t.co/57yJwhcW4v
— King's Resort (@PokerroomKings) April 16, 2021
This week, a Prague court ruled that Facebook would have to defend themselves in a Czech court, having failed in their bid to have it moved to Ireland.
The King’s Resort website explained the news this week: “Most lawsuits against Facebook are handled in Ireland, where Facebook’s headquarters are located. However, a court in Prague has now ruled that the Czech courts have jurisdiction in this case, which is a big advantage for King’s.”
Rozvadov’s reputation at stake
Tsoukernik’s poker island in Rozvadov is as famous as almost any other cardroom in the world these days, set to host the WSOP Europe this year and playing venue for almost every major European event on the calendar.
However, the misleading adverts that appeared all over Facebook threatened to bring the casino’s reputation into disrepute, with headings such as “Nejlepší české casino je nyní online!” (“The best Czech casino is now online!”) to tempt unsuspecting customers into the fake site.
“Someone who can’t be traced and therefore doesn’t even have a license has decided to use our name, our casino, and advertise on Facebook,” said Tsoukernik.
The Grand Casino Asch and Casino Wien also appeared in the fake ads, where every new customer is offered a bonus of CZK 3,000 (around €118 or $138).
Scams and fraudsters
A very unhappy Tsoukernik stated: “As a result, a powerful medium here helps fraudsters and takes money for it,” in an interview with Hospodářské Noviny back in April.
King’s Resort did its best to notify poker players and other customers not to fall for the fake advertising, releasing counter-adverts exposing the scam…
Tsoukernik also argued: “In other media, if we want to advertise, they require us to prove the license, trademarks for the logo and the like. Even two years ago, Facebook demanded it from us, so I don’t understand how they can release such fraudulent advertising.”
“It hurts us because, because if [the site] doesn’t return the money, people will think that King’s Casino didn’t return it to them,” claimed Tsoukernik, but his initial complaints to Facebook went unheeded by Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giants.
With no joy from the straightforward complaints approach, Tsoukernik — who is well-known to poker fans around the world for his own high-stakes battles, both on the felt and in the courts — decided he had no option other than to turn to the legal system.
No gambling addiction warnings
A claim for CZK 500,000,000 (roughly $23.3million) was filed, with the additional reasoning that the fake ads for the online gaming app, “did not include a reference to gambling addiction prevention”.
As pointed out by King’s, “All Czech casinos are obliged to include this notice in their advertising and on their homepages. This is another indication that this is illegal gambling advertising.”
A date for the case to be heard by the Czech courts has yet to be set, but as pointed out by multiple sources, very few lawsuits against Facebook reach that stage, out-of-court settlements the main way the social media behemoth deals with such matters.
“Loose Leon”
For those who don’t know Leon Tsoukernik’s background in the poker and casino world, the 47-year-old Russian-born casino mogul was a global antiques dealer before building his dream “poker island” in Rozvadov, close to the Czech border with Germany. It soon attracted the biggest events and the most famous players…
As a highstakes poker player himself, he hit the headlines with a court case back in 2017 involving Aussie Matt Kirk, in which Kirk claimed Tsoukernik had only repaid $1million of a $3million loan during a late night, highstakes heads-up match at the Aria in Las Vegas.
Tsoukernik claimed he was drunk and tired that: “It was an unenforceable gambling debt,” the sordid tale eventually dragging Bobby Baldwin and Rob Yong into the discussion.
Leon and Matt eventually settled matters out of court, with the Australian PLO player subsequently appearing in several televised highstakes cash games at King’s Casino.
The Czech casino boss has $4,935,642 to his name in tournament winnings, including a 4th spot worth $1.8million at the 2017 SHRB in Vegas, as well as a €1.1million victory in the 2019 WSOPE Super High Roller.
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