DOJ Backs Suit Accusing Vegas Hotels of Algorithmic Price-Fixing

The Justice Department filed an amicus brief supporting customers who accused Ceasars Entertainment Inc. and other Las Vegas hotel companies of using algorithms to fix prices.

“Pricing algorithms can process more information more rapidly than humans aided by prior communications technologies,” the DOJ said in a brief filed Thursday in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. “For this reason, such algorithms can increase the means and opportunities for collusion among competitors.”

The Vegas case is the first of its kind to reach a federal appeals court and is expected to impact similar suits going forward.

A group ...