Big Fish Casino Explained: Owners, Chips, Gold and the Court Case Behind It

Big Fish Casino is a long-running social casino app now published by Product Madness, a studio within the Australian gaming group Aristocrat, and Canadians can get it from the Canadian App Store, Google Play and Amazon or play it in a browser. Its chips and Gold can be won or bought but never cashed out, and it was the game at the centre of a 2018 US appeals ruling that later Washington State cases relied on.

Who owns Big Fish Casino, and can Canadians play it?

Big Fish Casino was built by Big Fish Games, a Washington State company. Churchill Downs Incorporated bought Big Fish Games in December 2014 and sold it on January 9, 2018 to a subsidiary of Aristocrat Leisure Limited for US$990 million, according to Churchill Downs’ filings. In August 2024 the game moved to its own website, hosted by Product Madness, another Aristocrat studio, which opened a Montreal office in 2022.

The app is listed in the Canadian App Store and on Google Play in Canada, priced in Canadian dollars, and Product Madness also links Amazon, Facebook and web versions. The help centre says the Facebook version closes on December 30, 2026; players keep their chips, VIP tier, friends and club by signing in to the web version with the same Facebook account.

Product Madness’s terms (last modified March 20, 2025) contain no clause excluding Canada. They require you to be at least 18, or the age of majority where you live, which is 18 in Manitoba but 19 in British Columbia. The Canadian App Store rates the app 18+ for frequent simulated gambling and contests and lists it in English only; Google Play shows Teen. Our parental controls guide shows how to keep it off a child’s device.

What can you do with Big Fish Casino chips and Gold?

Chips pay for every bet. Gold is a second currency you can win on some slots, receive for levelling up or buy, and it is spent in the Gift Store, including on chips for yourself or another player once your account is 72 hours old. Reward Center tickets are a third item, traded for a chance at chips.

Product Madness’s terms say virtual items have no monetary value, can never be redeemed for money or goods, cannot be refunded or exchanged for cash outside special rules for Europe and the UK, and may not be sold or traded beyond what the game allows. Our page on why social casino currency has no cash value explains why publishers write terms like these.

The game goes well beyond slots. Its help centre and store listing cover blackjack, roulette, Texas Hold’em, video poker and private tables for chatting with friends and gifting; clubs with club tournaments and quests, like those in clubs, leagues and clans; daily slot tournaments and events; Bonus Vaults, a Daily Spin and a Return Bonus, which follow the daily bonus mechanics we describe and are detailed in our Big Fish Casino free chips guide; and a VIP program whose tiers never reset, a variant of the levels and VIP tiers model.

What costs money in Big Fish Casino?

The download is free. As listed in the Canadian App Store on October 13, 2026, its ten in-app purchase items ran from $2.99 to $129.99 (CAD): chip packs from Basic to Tycoon, Gold packs such as Rich Gold and Pharaoh’s Gold, and a Piggybank item at $69.99. Google Play’s Canadian listing gave $1.02 to $349.99 per item on the same day.

Two features deserve a closer look. The Piggy Bank fills with chips as you make paid spins, but breaking it open is a purchase, and it cannot be switched off. The VIP program awards points for purchases and levelling up, and higher tiers get bigger bonuses and purchase multipliers, so the free bonuses grow with a tier that purchases help you climb.

Product Madness also runs a web-based Mega Bonus Shop promising at least 10% more per purchase. Buying there takes you outside Apple’s and Google’s refund systems, and Product Madness’s terms call its fees non-refundable as far as the law allows. See refunds through the App Store and Google Play and how in-app purchases are priced. Product Madness will also lock your account for at least a year on request; our page on when free play stops being fun covers other options.

Is Big Fish Casino legit, and what is the catch?

It is a legitimate app from an Aristocrat-owned studio, and its own website says plainly that it offers no gambling and no chance to win real money or prizes. The catch is the same as for every app in this section: money only flows one way.

Big Fish Casino is also the game behind Kater v. Churchill Downs, filed in Washington State in 2015 by a player who said she had bought and lost more than US$1,000 worth of chips. On March 28, 2018 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the case’s dismissal, holding that chips which extend the privilege of play are a “thing of value” under Washington law, and noting that the game’s chip transfer feature let players sell chips on a secondary market.

Kater and a related case settled for US$155 million, with Churchill Downs paying US$124 million and Aristocrat US$31 million, and the court granted final approval on February 11, 2021. On February 3, 2026, Washington’s Attorney General sued Playtika and Aristocrat, listing Big Fish Casino among 16 apps; those claims are unproven. Every case here is a US matter under Washington State law, not Canadian law.

For the safe ways to keep your balance topped up, read how to collect free Big Fish Casino chips. For how these apps differ from licensed gambling, see social casinos versus real-money sites.