May 9 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has thrown out a proposed

consumer class-action lawsuit accusing a group of major Las

Vegas hotels of sharing price information through a third-party

platform in order to charge artificially higher room rental

rates.

Chief U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Las Vegas in a

ruling on Wednesday said the plaintiffs had not shown that the

hotels had made any agreement with each other to fix prices.

Du had dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit but let

the consumers amend their case. Her new order dismissed the

lawsuit outright.

The consumer plaintiffs last year sued Wynn Resorts ( WYNN ),

Caesars, Treasure Island and others, alleging they used a

revenue platform by tech company Cendyn to unlawfully coordinate

on room prices, in violation of U.S. antitrust law. The amended

complaint added private equity giant Blackstone as a

defendant.

Wynn, Blackstone and several other defendants either

declined to comment or did not immediately respond to a request

for comment on Thursday. They all had denied any wrongdoing.

Cendyn in a statement said it welcomed Du's ruling to

dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice.

Steve Berman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said they were

weighing options, including whether to appeal.

The lawsuit accused the hotels of sharing competitive,

sensitive information that they otherwise would not disclose. Du

in her ruling said the hotels "are not required to and often do

not accept the pricing recommendations" made by Cendyn's

algorithm.

She said the hotels "have not agreed to restrain their

ability to price their hotel rooms in any way."

The plaintiffs had argued that adherence to a price

schedule, even if the guidelines were non-binding, still

amounted to a violation of federal antitrust law.

The U.S. Justice Department in a series of policy statements

made to U.S. courts in recent months has backed the plaintiffs'

argument.

The Las Vegas lawsuit is among a growing number of cases

focused on claims that companies are using data-sharing

platforms as a modern form of price-fixing.

"This case remains a relatively novel antitrust theory

premised on algorithmic pricing going in search of factual

allegations that could support it," Du wrote.

The case is Gibson v. Cendyn Group, U.S. District Court,

District of Nevada, No. 2:23-cv-00140-MMD-DJA.

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