Stephen A. Smith finally ended his relationship with Papaya Gaming and their Solitaire Cash game. It’s been almost a month since he and other ESPN personalities received major backlash for promoting the sketchy app.
Last week, Papaya Gaming agreed to a multi-million-dollar class action settlement over claims that it misled players. Before the settlement, but while the lawsuit was still in the court system, Stephen A. Smith, Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky, Laura Rutledge, and Kendrick Perkins promoted the game on their social media accounts. Kimes would later apologize for not vetting the promotion. Rutledge and Orlovsky also quickly deleted their Solitaire Cash game posts.
The class action lawsuit filed against Papaya Gaming alleged the company misled players into believing their matches were skill-based when they were not. PokerScout reported that “Papaya initially denied the allegations while simultaneously arguing that even if it was using bots, there was no harm and no misrepresentation taking place.”
In the judge’s refusal to dismiss the lawsuit, Judge Denise Cote wrote that rather than tell the truth, “Papaya executives modified its bots’ performance to make bot profiles appear more human so that fewer users would detect their usage going forward.”
ESPN reportedly had different rules for different people depending on their status in the company
ESPN executives reportedly had not been briefed on, or approved, the marketing campaign and ordered Kimes, Orlovsky, Rutledge, and Perkins to sever ties with Papaya. Front Office Sports says the company allowed Smith to make his own decision on his own time.
Front Office Sports now reports that Stephen A. Smith informed them, “Papaya and I have mutually agreed to end our partnership.”
Mina Kimes, the first to retract her support for the Solitaire Cash game, did so on Nov. 8. Why it took almost month longer for Stephen A. Smith to do the same has not been made clear.