- 4,464
- Azle, TX
- supermanfromazle
- SanjiHimura
Over the last week, the Counter-Strike community has become more up in arms over the emergence of gambling sites involving the game. One site in particular, CSGOLotto has emerged in the forefront of possible legal trouble with the Federal Trade Commission, which regulates online gambling in the United States. To tell the story properly, I must first tell you of two YouTubers, TmarTn and ProSyndicate (Real Names, Trevor Martin and Thomas Cassel respectively), and how they are involved with the site.
The site emerged as a way to gamble weapon skins in a game of chance* in pots up to thousands of dollars (if the two personalities are to be believed) on a virtual coin flip. Valve takes 15% of every skin sold, and CSGO Lotto takes 8% of the total pot size. TmarTn and ProSyndicate used their YouTube channels to showcase the site and demonstrate how they earn their cash, and many were minors.
Aside from the minors issue, which I will address later, the pair has failed to disclose to FTC standards that not only that they were working for the site, but were actually the owners of the site since day one.
Now they are trying, and failing, to cover their tracks for when the FTC comes calling, there is a class action lawsuit against Valve, CSGO Lotto, and Martin and Cassel personally for encouraging underage gambling.
The filing
Video below will explain it better than I can. Some top notch journalism:
7/11/2016 UPDATE: A new class action has been filed in New Jersey. Read more about it here.
To break this down by State:
Connecticut:
Valve is the only named defendant.
Florida:
Valve, CSGOLotto, Trevor Martin and Tom Cassel are named defendants. CSGOLounge, CSGODiamonds, CSGOSpeed, CSGOCrash, Skin Arena and OPSkins are "unnamed co-conspirators."
New Jersey:
Valve, Trevor Martin and Tom Cassel are named defendants. Will edit if I obtain a copy of the complaint.
Also, according to the YouTuber who broke the story, Honor the Call, the UK's gambling commission is now looking into Trevor Martin and Tom Cassel and CSGOLotto. BBC
The site emerged as a way to gamble weapon skins in a game of chance* in pots up to thousands of dollars (if the two personalities are to be believed) on a virtual coin flip. Valve takes 15% of every skin sold, and CSGO Lotto takes 8% of the total pot size. TmarTn and ProSyndicate used their YouTube channels to showcase the site and demonstrate how they earn their cash, and many were minors.
Aside from the minors issue, which I will address later, the pair has failed to disclose to FTC standards that not only that they were working for the site, but were actually the owners of the site since day one.
Now they are trying, and failing, to cover their tracks for when the FTC comes calling, there is a class action lawsuit against Valve, CSGO Lotto, and Martin and Cassel personally for encouraging underage gambling.
The filing
Video below will explain it better than I can. Some top notch journalism:
7/11/2016 UPDATE: A new class action has been filed in New Jersey. Read more about it here.
To break this down by State:
Connecticut:
Valve is the only named defendant.
Florida:
Valve, CSGOLotto, Trevor Martin and Tom Cassel are named defendants. CSGOLounge, CSGODiamonds, CSGOSpeed, CSGOCrash, Skin Arena and OPSkins are "unnamed co-conspirators."
New Jersey:
Valve, Trevor Martin and Tom Cassel are named defendants. Will edit if I obtain a copy of the complaint.
Also, according to the YouTuber who broke the story, Honor the Call, the UK's gambling commission is now looking into Trevor Martin and Tom Cassel and CSGOLotto. BBC
Last edited: