'Counter-Strike' gambling is falling fast as Valve hands out cease and desist letters
Counter-Strike gambling is disappearing from the internet. Quickly.
After a number of questionable Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gambling websites were exposed as being rigged and illegally advertised by owners, one site said CS:GO developer Valve had started sending out cease and desist letters to nearly two dozen gambling sites.
CS:GO gambling site CSGOBig.com tweeted that it is shutting down temporarily at the request of Valve, pointing to a link that contains a copy of the company's letter. The letter contains the names of 23 other gambling sites, and one of them is associated with another Valve property, Dota 2.
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Valve did not confirm to Mashable that it sent out cease and desist letters, but the company released a statement on July 13 saying it would be sending out notices to offending websites.
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The letter states that site owners are using Steam accounts in a way that violates the Steam Subscriber Agreement, specifically by using Steam accounts for commercial purposes. In Valve's earlier release, a spokesperson for Valve said the sites were using automated Steam accounts to conduct business, a use of bots that Steam prohibits.
How the gambling works
There are two types of gambling in the CS:GO community: weapon skin gambling and match gambling. Match gambling works like any other sport: gamblers put money or weapon skins down on which team they think will win a match and win or lose based on outcomes.
The other type, weapon skin gambling, is much more complicated. Weapon skins are purely-aesthetic upgrades earned or purchased in CS:GO that can be traded or sold in Valve's Steam marketplace. Some gambling sites allow users to put their skins on the line against other players, and the website picks a random (or not-so-random) winner who takes home the pot.
Some of these rare skins can fetch several hundreds dollars on the marketplace.
The websites have been getting away with their activity because gamblers aren't exchanging money, they're exchanging skins. But now Valve is cracking down, possibly thanks to the exposure of a number of shady gambling site owners.
How the controversies started
In early July, two prominent YouTubers known for their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gambling videos were exposed as the owners of the same gambling site they positively advertised. By not disclosing that they owned the gambling website CSGOLotto.com, they were in violation of Federal Trade Commission's endorsement guidelines.
When the duo was exposed for its shady business, YouTuber h3h3Productions brought up the fact that minors could have easily been gambling thousands of dollars worth of skins.
Polygon spoke to several CS:GO gamblers under 18 who admitted to gambling by using their parents' or grandparents' credit cards and spending thousands of dollars to keep playing.
Following the CSGOLotto controversy, CS:GO analyst and reporter Richard Lewis released a video exposing the website CSGOShuffle.com for rigging bets for the financial gain of supposed-owner James "Phantoml0rd" Varga.
Phantoml0rd was banned from Twitch after Lewis's report and the enactment of Twitch's new rules against gambling streams.
Valve's release came out between the CSGOLotto controversy and the CSGOShuffle controversy. The company has now taken action against many major gambling sites, not just the ones that were involved in these scandals.
Killing gambling could hurt the community
As soon as the lifespan of CS:GO gambling sites came into question, a chunk of the CS community grew worried.
Some of the sites receiving cease and desist letters are also popular skin-trading sites, which allow users to exchange skins with no gambling involved. While they don't necessarily need to stop acting as trading sites, the loss of gambling profits may force some of the sites to close.
None of the contactable sites listed in the cease and desist letter replied to requests for comment.
The CS:GO scene could take a pretty big hit if enough gamblers stopped watching
Because weapon skins are a big part of CS:GO's appeal, the loss of these websites could be followed by the loss of many players and viewers. Exactly how many is unclear, but some viewers may only tune in to certain games because they enjoy betting on them.
If the number of CS:GO dropouts is significant, some of the smaller professional tournaments throughout the year may lose vital viewers and be less appealing to advertisers. Tournaments may cease, and the CS:GO scene might take a pretty big hit.
Just how many would actually stop watching is impossible to determine, but there is likely to be at least a small reduction in viewership.
On the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive subreddit, some users have stated that it would be better for the community if the gamblers left.
"Let viewership drop and let CS:GO exist on it's (sic) merit as a great competitive game," user literallydontcaree wrote. "If that's not enough then oh well."
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