Jury finds Caesars liable for intentional misconduct after soured deal
to bring innovative gaming technologies to market
LAS VEGAS , April 22, 2025 -- A Clark County District Court jury returned a verdict for $20 million against gaming giant Caesars Entertainment in favor of gaming technology company Tipping Point Gaming LLC in their long-running dispute regarding their deal to bring Tipping Point's patented gaming technology to market.
The verdict, returned before District Court Judge Joe Hardy Jr., represented vindication for Sam Johnson, the principal for Tipping Point, in a case that dates to February 2018 and reached the Nevada Supreme Court, which ordered the trial in a June 2024 ruling.
"We finally got our day in court for the jury to decide, and that's how our system works. I was pleased that we did prevail on the interference claim, that Caesars purposely and maliciously interfered with Tipping Point's prospective business, and in finding Caesars liable for punitive damages as well," said Johnson, who characterized the drawn-out conflict pitting his small, underdog company against an industry behemoth as a clash between David and Goliath.
The verdict included $15 million in compensatory damages against Caesars plus $5 million in punitive damages. In addition, statutory interest on judgments in Nevada generally accrue at the prime rate plus 2% beginning from the date of the original filing in 2018 — meaning if Caesars paid today, the total would include at least another $10 million+ in interest on top of the awarded damages.
"That keeps getting tacked on as long as they delay," Johnson said. "So if they keep trying to drag this out, we ultimately prevail further."
Johnson, who held 60 patents in the casino gaming realm, originally saw Caesars as a marquee partner that would play a big role in deploying his innovative products, which initially included patented side-bet technology for slots that boost revenues as well as other valuable applications in land-based and internet gaming assets.
The business relationship went south at the 11th hour, according to court documents, with Caesars opting to slow-roll the launch of Tipping Point's products, abruptly pulling the plug on their existing agreement, and even claiming Tipping Point didn't have ownership of its own IP.
"I think we would have been wildly successful," Johnson said. "The market knows Caesars is a marquee brand. If Caesars does it, and the market sees it in action, everyone follows. But Caesars intentionally didn't deploy and engaged in other intentional conduct to intervene with Tipping Point's prospective relationship with another gaming industry participant. You saw it in some of the internal documents from the case — one Caesars executive invited 'tactics to intervene,' and another responded by taking action to stall deployment to keep Tipping Point's products out of the field."
Included among a veritable avalanche of incriminating internal emails from Caesars, as presented in court documents, was one in which a Caesars executive wrote: "In terms of immediate next steps, it seems like we may have [to] put the nuclear option on the table."
Johnson added: "What we had was a game changer. We would have definitely transformed the industry. However, once Caesars intentionally tainted Tipping Point's IP, instead of Caesars being the market maker Tipping Point relied on, Caesars prevented a market from ever being made. I'm thankful though that Caesars' interference with the success of Tipping Point, their vendor, was finally vindicated by the jury. However, due to this lengthy and expensive litigation brought on by Caesars, I lost the opportunity to see this vision through."
According to Johnson, for Nevada to remain the leading name in gaming innovation, it is absolutely critical that small developers like his company must be protected against massive gaming corporations. Without those protections, innovations will simply be moved to other U.S. jurisdictions, or worse, moved offshore to competing countries.
"This verdict should go a long way toward making Nevada that safe haven for the best innovators in the world," he said.
About Sam Johnson
Sam Johnson is a serial entrepreneur with a 35-year track record of founding several cutting-edge startup companies, and is the named inventor in over 90 issued patents. He has broad experience in all aspects of leading and growing high-tech businesses from the ground up with a keen eye for innovative opportunities and rapid execution. He is considered a visionary, architect and leader in the "picture in picture" category of system related products to the gaming industry.
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