Suit Claims Nintendo Fosters Illegal Gambling Through Pokemon Cards

Nintendo Co. is being sued by four parents who contend the firm is promoting a form of illegal gambling using trading cards featuring characters from its popular Pokemon games.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego on Friday, alleges the trading game is illegal gambling because only through chance can players acquire premium cards that are randomly inserted in packs.

The cards can be used to win the game, and the odds of finding one in a pack are one in 33, according to the wrapping on the packs, the suit said. The premium cards can have a resale value of more than $70 each, compared to $3 to $10 for an unopened pack of 11 cards, the suit says.

Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo said the plaintiff’s attorneys, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, have filed similar lawsuits against makers of sports trading cards. “To our knowledge none of these cases has been successful in asserting that collecting trading cards is a form of illegal gambling,” Richard Flamm, general counsel at Nintendo’s U.S. unit, said in a statement. “We see no reason to expect a different result in this case.”

4Kids Entertainment Inc., Nintendo’s U.S. licensing agent, and Wizards of the Coast Inc., the closely held maker of the cards, are also named in the suit, which seeks class-action status.