"Beat" Stephen A. Smith Page No Longer Exists On Solitaire Gaming Website

By Bill Speros Nov 25th, 2025 2:41 PM EST

Stephen A. Smith’s journey into the world of online solitaire appears to have quietly come to close. The “Beat Stephen” page on the Papaya Gaming site no longer exists.

Smith, and several other ESPN personalities, drew harsh criticism for their promotion of the World Solitaire Championship through Papaya Gaming. That company remains entangled in litigation for allegedly using bots and masking them as real players on its games.

While X posts promoting the World Solitaire Championship remain on Smith’s feed, the link from those videos directs users to a “404” page under this url:  “https://www.papaya.com/world-solitaire-championship-beat-stephen.”

Bookies.com reached out to both Papaya Gaming and ESPN for comment but has yet to hear back.

ESPN ‘Ordered’ Talent To Cut Ties: Report

Front Office Sports reported on Nov. 12 that ESPN had “ordered several on-air talents” to cut ties with Papaya Gaming. Among the others at the World Wide Leader signed on to pitch the app only to have their wrists subsequently slapped: Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky, Kendrick Perkins, and Laura Rutledge. Those personalities have deleted their promotional posts on X that urged players to “Beat Stephen.”

That same day, Smith read a statement about the issue during his "Straight Shooter" podcast that he said was written by his attorney.

"My team and I are currently evaluating the accuracy of the claims made. I want to be very clear, I do not support nor condone any company engaging in fraudulent or unfair gaming practices," Smith said.

Smith agreed to hype Papaya Gaming’s new Solitaire World Championship in Miami — even as Papaya headed to trial over allegations it juiced past tournaments with house bots. The company plans to fly 400 app qualifiers to a five-star mystery resort next February to chase $300,000 in prizes, with promotional spots that had blended real Stephen A. footage and AI imagery.

Papaya Remains In Lawsuit Against Skillz

Skillz’s long-running legal crusade against its mobile gaming rivals is heading back to trial — this time with Papaya in the crosshairs. Skillz has already cashed a $43 million judgment from AviaGames after uncovering, through discovery, that Avia was using bots to juice outcomes and mislead players. That revelation sparked a federal probe.

When Skillz went after Papaya next, it skipped the patent playbook and went straight for the botting allegations. Papaya first denied everything, then argued that—even if bots were in the mix—nobody was harmed and nothing was misrepresented. But the company eventually had to concede the core facts. Judge Denise Cote spiked Papaya’s attempt to dismiss the case, pointing to evidence that Papaya denied bot use while quietly tweaking the bots to look “more human” to avoid detection.

That ruling gave the green light for a jury trial. With its defenses shrinking, Papaya tried to convince the judge that their practices were common, claiming players should expect them on these sorts of game.

“Papaya looks forward to vigorously proving in trial that Skillz’ misleading accusations against the company are false and unjustified. Papaya will continue to lead the industry with innovation while remaining focused on our mission to empower players with skill-based and fair competition,” the company said in a statement.

Judge Cote this week also struck down a countersuit filed by Papaya Gaming against Skillz.

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