ACR Poker is facing a lawsuit for non-payment of fees to several influencers who helped promote the poker site on social media platforms.
Scott Ball and his agency, End Game Talent, LLC (EGT), are suing America’s Cardroom (now known as ACR Poker), which is one of the leading pokers rooms in the US, and CEO Phil Nagy for “at least $30 million”. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that ACR has defamed Ball by blaming him for the influencers not being paid.
The agreement dates back to July 2021, with the unpaid influencer bills from April 2023.
In his lawsuit, Ball alleges that ACR Poker were due to make nine monthly payments of $3.3 million for a total of $29.7 million.
But trouble began immediately, according to Ball. It’s claimed that ACR asked to switch to weekly payments, buying them more time to pay, and that they also made a request for a two-month break. According to the lawsuit, this was because they needed to “slow down” their outgoings from poker prize pools.
Ball agrees that the first three $1.1 million payments were indeed completed, though claims that no further payments were made due to ACR being “low on BTC”.
Previous Claims
Big streamer @LudwigAhgren says that America's Card Room refused to pay him out. He says it's his biggest regret in working with a sponsor and that they're a "dogshit site" pic.twitter.com/10alxje1CE
— Thomas Keeling (@SrslySirius) August 23, 2024
ACR Poker has had similar issues before. Last August, Ludwig Arghen – a streamer and esports commentator with well over six million subscribers on YouTube – said he regretted working with the poker room after they failed to pay him for promotion.
That resulted in Nagy, who can regularly be seen chopping it up with the likes of Bryn Kenney and Doug Polk, hopping on the Only Friends Podcast to defend himself. However, it’s possible this did more damage than good, as several quotes from the show are cited in the lawsuit.
Nagy suggested “gross negligence on Endgame’s part” and said he’d “be damned if I have to pay for something twice” – suggesting the influencer invoices were already settled.
This led to a text exchange between Nagy and Ball, where Nagy reportedly stated “sue me”.
There are some other similar cases, too. Dennis Richardson, a slightly less prominent streamer better known as PaymoneyWubby, also made a claim of non-payment from ACR relating to promotional work from 2022.
Ball Controversy
Scott Ball’s reputation in the poker community isn’t squeaky clean, either.
Mike Matusow made waves when he accused Ball of stealing money from Phil Hellmuth in a private game. Ball denied this, but did confess to having a piece of other players in the game without disclosing it.
You can check out Ball’s take on it all in a thread on X below. Ironically, Nagy comes to his defense, and Ball claims he’s one of his “closest friends”.
This will be a multi part thread addressing the accusations made against me.
1) “Stealing money from Phil Hellmuth” aka investor fraud. Phil is a close friend, a proud share holder of End Game and believes in the company’s vision and growth. pic.twitter.com/adWQI9Y3rV
— Scott Ball (@EndGameScott) November 18, 2021
What next?
The lawsuit was filed on 24th December, 2024, but the next major step won’t happen until the summer. An initial trial has been set for 18th July, 2025.