Go Daddy Slapped with $100 Million Lawsuit over Michael Jackson Casino

It isn’t often that attention is given to online casinos in the United States’ mainstream media sources like Fox News and TMZ.com, but when you try to mess with the Michael Jackson estate, that’s just what happens. 

An unnamed operator of online casinos recently opened MichaelJacksonCasino.com – and was forced soon thereafter to shut it down. (The webpage is currently “parked for free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com.”) While open for online gaming, the casino placed copyrighted images of the deceased “King of Pop” on its website, for which their owner Howard Mann is now seeking remuneration. 

Since the owner of Michael Jackson Casino remains anonymous thanks to his purchase of the domain name from GoDaddy, Mann filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court on Monday to sue for a sum of $100 million. Mann reckons he can “flush out the name of the person” behind MichaelJacksonCasino.com by suing Go Daddy for “playing host to the illegal website.” No word yet on whether the lawsuit has anything to do with the casino’s legal status under current American gambling laws.  

A GoDaddy representative was quoted on the Fox News website as stating that “if we are named [in the lawsuit], Go Daddy plans to vigorously defend itself. When customers are involved in a legal dispute, Go Daddy complies with court orders.”