In April, Delaware North filed a lawsuit against Miomni, its sports betting provider, and the company’s chief executive officer, Michael Venner before the Delaware Court of Chancery.
The suit alleges “an ongoing pattern of misrepresentation and bad faith” and seeks to dissolve the partnership.
Two months later, Miomni answers back by filing a motion to dismiss the case and the West Virginia sports betting saga continues.
Miomni answers back
As a reminder, the story began back on March 6, when Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island sportsbooks, plus their online betting app, BetLucky, abruptly ceased operations.
Since then, information out of Delaware North, the owner of both properties, and Miomni has been scant. PlayWV.com obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act request, which began to tell the story. But the first inside look into the drama came when Delaware North filed its lawsuit in Delaware.
Now, Miomni is telling its side of the story.
In its legal response, Miomni provides three points to support its request to dismiss the suit:
- There was no breach of contract.
- The suit against Venner is outside the court’s jurisdiction.
- There was no fraud and Miomni didn’t act in bad faith.
Miomni believes the contract was fulfilled as written and any allegations supporting a breach of contract are false or outside the scope of the contract.
Miomni claims:
“Delaware North has not stated a breach of the joint venture agreement and failed to adequately plead claims of fraud against either Miomni or Mr. Venner. Moreover, the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Mr. Venner. Accordingly, defendants respectfully request that the Court dismiss the complaint.”
Oh, what a tangled web
The allegation of fraud is a bit more complicated and involves another player, Entergaming.
Entergaming was leasing parts of the online sports betting platform to Miomni. Delaware North claims it was not made aware of the arrangement and that it was prohibited under the contract.
Miomni claims Delaware North was aware of the agreement. From the moment BetLucky shut down, Miomni was pointing to Entergaming as the culprit.
Miomni contends Entergaming used a “kill switch” illegally found in the software to shut down the sports betting operations. Miomni took Entergaming to court in the United Kingdome and the court ruled in Miomni’s favor. As a result, Entergaming was forced to reveal the location of the kill switches within the platform.
The evidence for the fraud claim is based on evidence from Entergaming. Entergaming has already been found to be at fault. Additionally, Miomni claims the evidence from Entergaming does not support the case of acting in bad faith.
The ball is in Delaware North’s court
Delaware North has not issued a response to the latest developments. While the company remains legally entangled with Miomni, there is little hope sports betting will return to its WV sportsbooks any time soon.
That leaves the already struggling WV sports betting market short of betting options heading into the most lucrative sports betting period of the year.
The NFL and college football seasons are just a little over a month away. And it seems likely Mardi Gras Sportsbook and Wheeling Island Sportsbook will be watching from the sidelines.