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A federal jury found Papaya Gaming liable for false advertising in a lawsuit brought by rival Skillz over the marketing of cash-prize mobile games and the alleged use of bots. The court later selected $719 million in profits-based disgorgement, plus attorney’s fees and certain costs. That is a civil false-advertising judgment—not a criminal fraud conviction—and the award is not an announced refund to individual players.
What the Skillz lawsuit was about
Skillz Platform Inc. sued Papaya Gaming, Ltd. and related defendants on March 4, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case, Skillz Platform Inc. v. Papaya Gaming, Ltd. et al., No. 24-cv-1646 (DLC), asserted claims under the federal Lanham Act and New York General Business Law § 349.
Skillz alleged that Papaya promoted its real-money skill-based mobile games as fair contests between players while using algorithmic competitors—often described as bots—in tournaments with cash prizes. Those were Skillz’s allegations when it filed suit; they should not be mistaken for findings made at that stage. Papaya disputed Skillz’s position and argued, including through expert testimony, that bots could serve purposes such as matchmaking and maintaining enough opponents for games.
In a February 12, 2026 opinion addressing expert evidence, Judge Denise L. Cote wrote: “Whatever the practices are in the video game industry, it would mislead the jury to suggest that a decision to disclose the use of bots to consumers is a discretionary one to be made exclusively by a developer of an RMSB game and without regard to a company’s public statements.” The ruling concerned what evidence and arguments could be presented to the jury; it was not itself the jury’s verdict.
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What the jury and court decided
On April 23, 2026, the jury found Papaya liable for false advertising. It awarded Skillz $420 million in actual damages and also returned advisory disgorgement figures for two alternative theories: $719 million based on profits and $652 million based on cost savings. The advisory amounts were not three recoveries to be added together.
In a July 27, 2026 post-trial opinion, the court rejected Papaya’s challenges to the verdict and chose $719 million in disgorgement of unjust profits instead of the jury’s $420 million actual-damages award. The court also awarded attorney’s fees for 2024 and 2025 and certain costs. FIRY’s SEC filing describes fees and costs together as approximately $10.1 million. The court’s July 27 ruling, rather than the jury’s advisory cost-savings figure, sets out the remedy selected after trial.
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How to read the money figures
| Figure | What it represents | Status and attribution |
|---|---|---|
| $420 million | Actual damages | A jury award on April 23, 2026; the court later selected disgorgement instead of this recovery. |
| $719 million | Disgorgement based on profits | The court-ordered remedy in its July 27, 2026 post-trial opinion; FIRY’s SEC filing also reports the award. |
| $652 million | Disgorgement based on cost savings | An advisory jury figure from April 23, 2026. It was not the amount the court ultimately ordered. |
| Approximately $10.1 million | Attorney’s fees and certain costs | FIRY’s SEC filing’s description of the July 27 order. The company’s July 28 release rounded attorney’s fees to approximately $10 million and discussed certain costs separately. |
The court treated actual damages and disgorgement as alternative ways to remedy the injury, not cumulative awards. Adding $420 million to $719 million would therefore misstate the selected recovery.
What Skillz said about bots—and what was not a court finding
In a July 28, 2026 release, FIRY, Skillz’s parent, said the company’s trial evidence concerned $6.7 billion in advertised prize money, roughly $4.7 billion of which it said was not paid to customers because bots won. The release also reported more than 13 million bot participants compared with roughly 11 million human players. Those are figures in the company’s account of the evidence, not independent numerical findings identified in the court materials described here.
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The same release quoted FIRY CEO and founder Andrew Paradise as saying: “We founded this industry and built its biggest and best company on one value above all others: honor.” That is Paradise’s statement on behalf of the company, not a judicial finding.
What the judgment means for players
The verdict resolves Skillz’s civil false-advertising claims against Papaya; it does not, by itself, establish that a particular reader faced a bot in a particular match or qualify that reader for a payment. The $719 million disgorgement is a remedy in Skillz’s lawsuit, not an announced individual-player refund program.
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FIRY’s SEC filing says final judgment was entered on July 31, 2026. The July 28 company release said collection remained subject to uncertainty and that a separate opinion on injunctive relief was forthcoming. The release and filing do not establish whether an appeal was later filed, whether any amount has been collected, or how the injunction issue was resolved.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Other claims in the case
The lawsuit also included counterclaims by Papaya against Skillz. FIRY’s SEC filing reports that Papaya’s defamation counterclaims were dismissed, its intellectual-property claims were severed and later voluntarily dismissed, and the remaining counterclaims and affirmative defenses were resolved for Skillz on summary judgment. Those procedural outcomes are distinct from the jury’s false-advertising verdict against Papaya.
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