Gordon Vayo’s Lawsuit Against PokerStars is Getting In Front of a Federal Judge

2016 WSOP Main Event runner-up Gordon Vayo’s case against PokerStars will be in front of a federal judge in November.

Vayo, who has been playing on PokerStars for years under the screen name “Holla@yoboy” filed his lawsuit against the online poker giant earlier this year after his account was frozen, prohibiting him to withdraw the $692,000 he won at a SCOOP event back in May 2017. The reason the site gave is that data from Vayo’s mobile device led them to believe that the poker pro was actually in California during the tournament, a state where online poker cannot be legally played. Vayo claims that he was in fact in his Ottawa residence at the time.

According to Vayo’s legal representatives’ claims:

“Defendant [PokerStars] has engaged in a practice of approving U.S. citizens and residents for play on the PokerStars.com site, allowing and encouraging them to play on the site, happily taking their money. Then, after a U.S. citizen or resident wins a significant amount of money on the PokerStars.com site, Defendant conducts a sham investigation into the user’s activities and the location of the user’s access of the site, placing the onus on the player to retroactively prove that it is ‘inconceivable’ that his or her play could have originated from within the United States” - the official court filings state.

In response, PokerStars has filed a motion to dismiss the case, which was scheduled to be heard originally on September 25th, but a Central District of California Federal Judge moved the date of the hearing to November 6th - the day of the midterm elections in the US.

Vayo has won over $6.2 million on live poker tournaments and over $2.4 million on online tournaments - that includes his big SCOOP score, which he’s still fighting for in the courts.