Support NeoGAF

[EviLore]

Two part exposé on the driving force behind CS:GO.

There's a good reason why gambling is heavily regulated or illegal around the world. But in video games, abstracted away to things like skins and loot boxes, it largely operates under the legal radar. Make no mistake, it's still ruining lives, but in this case it's targeting young people who have the highest susceptibility to addiction.

It's easy to handwave away when it's some shady company operating in a developing country, but this is Valve, a major gaming platform holder, who knowingly created this gambling system and profits heavily from it.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Interesting topic for a documentary. Will watch because this is some shady shit. Wasn't there a huge scandal a couple of years ago with two popular streamers who gambled and won on a CSGO site, then it was revealed they owned the site and manipulated the numbers in their favor? Absolutely disgusting behavior.

 

[SCB3]

Interesting topic for a documentary. Will watch because this is some shady shit. Wasn't there a huge scandal a couple of years ago with two popular streamers who gambled and won on a CSGO site, then it was revealed they owned the site and manipulated the numbers in their favor? Absolutely disgusting behavior.

Yep and they still stream to this day

 

[Mr Hyde]

Yep and they still stream to this day

That is even more disgusting. They should be behind bars.

 

[tamago84]

Yep. This world is so fucked up over and over that while some people are busy trying to fix and regulate certain things, others go through. Literally trying to fill up a jug with 100 holes with water

 

[simpatico]

With internet gambling (Draft Kings etc) becoming legal in more states, unfortunately it looks like overall the restrictions on gambling are lessening. I've seen a few guys who work for me lose more money than they can afford to on these apps. Sad state of affairs.

 

[UnNamed]

I'm not into CS:GO, so I didn't know all those website, but the fact they exist and they litterally work as a casino is very terrifying.

 

[Wildebeest]

It seems like most game streamers have ADHD. It is almost inconceivable for the ADHD brain to think of something as shiny and distracting as gambling as bad in any way.

 

[keraj37]

It took me a while to watch it finally.
The silence from MSM and official government institutions is staggering.
How come it is operating peacefully under the noses of all regulators?
It needs to be stopped.

 

[Blitzmangoman]

Screw those streamers promoting this shit to their young audiences.
This was very informative, thanks for linking.

Edit: Fuck Valve

 

[DGrayson]

House always wins folks.

 

[Hypereides]

Its really unnerving how this has managed to creep into gaming. The industry people that pushed for this shift shouldn't be in this industry to begin with. If this is the only way the current business model can ensure a satisfactory return, then they should be strong-armed into thoroughly rethinking it.

 

[Kenpachii]

Good that shit is banned in netherlands.

However twitch is so much worse for allow gambling shit on there website.

 

[nowhat]

House always wins folks.

...unless you kill him in his statis chamber.

 

[hlm666]

They are conditioning children from their first gaming experience these days that paying for a chance to get something ingame is ok. The only solution is to be a vigilant parent and try raise your kids with enough understanding that they will lose in these systems, and yeh that's easier said than done but regulators are so slow they are practically useless.

Didn't a bunch of these csgo sites get closed down years back? and seemingly popped right back up.

An example of how useless regulators can be, in Aus ages ago advertising gambling (and alcohol/smokes) during prime time tv was banned. Now the smokes/alcho add ban is still effective but the gambling advertising has got around the ban by advertising the gambling app and if they don't straight up give you odds and info for the football game or horse race etc. they can just advertise whenever they want. So now the adds have progressed to things like running adds where they say if your first bet loses this weekend you get your money back, but they credit it to your account so you have to use it on another bet. The regulators response to this is these gambling adds has been, they have to say gambling is bad during the advert. So right at the end you get shit like how much is gambling really costing you, but they do it so quick and low volume it's pretty pointless and I guess the regulators are like well we tried.......... because I havn't heard anything more about it.

 

[VN1X]

Good that shit is banned in netherlands.

The reason you think these things are banned over here isn't to "protect the children" lol.

The Dutch government not only condones gambling but actively encourages it, they just don't want that revenue stream to go outside of the NL but directly back into the state's coffers (which is why you have stuff like the Staatsloterij, Toto, Lotto, etc). There are some websites over here that we have access to such as Unibet but even that one comes with restrictions.

 

[supernova8]

Those shithead streamers that sort of "pumped and dumped" their own (seemingly fake/rigged) CS GO gambling website should have gone to jail for a good 5 or more years each. That's the only way they stop this shit.

 

[Kenpachii]

The reason you think these things are banned over here isn't to "protect the children" lol.

The Dutch government not only condones gambling but actively encourages it, they just don't want that revenue stream to go outside of the NL but directly back into the state's coffers (which is why you have stuff like the Staatsloterij, Toto, Lotto, etc). There are some websites over here that we have access to such as Unibet but even that one comes with restrictions.

Yea i know this i do think they should slam a bit more down on that, specially the toto commercials etc. However i do believe it goes back into sports and other stuff that benefits other people at the end. A total ban on gambling isn't needed in my view. But shit like cs go and game gambling should be 100% banned.

The shit i see on twitch where a guy sits there unregulated basically playing with fake money on a site winning millions to trick kids to gambling into it and lose all there shit is just disgusting.

 

[Mephisto40]

Whole thing needs to be shut down tbh, pretty much all these csgo gambling sites are being used as money laundering operations for criminals

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

CS:GO is targeted towards adults. Yes, ADULTS.

The fact that little kids play this who are more prone to stuff like this, isn't Valve's problem.
It's the parents.

We can all go around creaming SHAME, SHAME, but the problem isnt what's on offer.
The problem is the audience that play this when they shouldn't.

 

[Roni]

I made R$1700, about US$325, from selling some old loot crates that I had earned when playing CS:GO some years ago. Never opened any of them, so they just stacked and stacked....

That's insane. No one should be paying that much money for made up stuff.

My ex-wife's son is all in on the gambling. I tried to teach him that the only "good" kind of transaction is a fixed price for a tangible good. Everything else is garbage, but I was too late. He loved putting his own money into Valorant skins and the like.

 

[Roni]

CS:GO is targeted towards adults. Yes, ADULTS.

The fact that little kids play this who are more prone to stuff like this, isn't Valve's problem.
It's the parents.

We can all go around creaming SHAME, SHAME, but the problem isnt what's on offer.
The problem is the audience that play this when they shouldn't.

That's a hollow point you're making when something like Valorant exists.

 

[hlm666]

That's a hollow point you're making when something like Valorant exists.

Has a teen rating and your supposed to be 16 or older to play. I guess at that age they are supposed to be smart enough, they can have sex and drive but the counter argument is they can't drink or vote. The argument for educating your children is valid, by 16 if they havn't learned gambling is going to have consequences it's probably too late. I also understand some parents can try their hardest and it's still going to go to shit, it's a problem and regulators don't seem to have the power or care factor to enforce changes to protect that segment. That basically leaves it to be the parents problem in the here and now.

 

[HTK]

I'm against all forms of gambling period and Valve needs to start taking responsibility. I don't care if you're an adult or a child, gambling doesn't do any good in a society and whether you're an adult or a child you'll suffer the same consequences.

 

[ZVWQP-9B8TM-VH9CT]

I'm against all forms of gambling period and Valve needs to start taking responsibility. I don't care if you're an adult or a child, gambling doesn't do any good in a society and whether you're an adult or a child you'll suffer the same consequences.

no, we don't want the big brother state to decide what people do with their money.

 

[FunkMiller]

CS:GO is targeted towards adults. Yes, ADULTS.

The fact that little kids play this who are more prone to stuff like this, isn't Valve's problem.
It's the parents.

We can all go around creaming SHAME, SHAME, but the problem isnt what's on offer.
The problem is the audience that play this when they shouldn't.

Like it or not, kids have access to these games, which means that regulation and enforcement is required.

In an ideal world, parents would all parent their children responsibly. But this ain't an ideal world.

 

[Raven117]

I'm against all forms of gambling period and Valve needs to start taking responsibility. I don't care if you're an adult or a child, gambling doesn't do any good in a society and whether you're an adult or a child you'll suffer the same consequences.

Nah man. If you are an adult, do what you want.

I’d doesn’t help society, but so what? Lots of things don’t.

 

[Thaedolus]

Has a teen rating and your supposed to be 16 or older to play. I guess at that age they are supposed to be smart enough, they can have sex and drive but the counter argument is they can't drink or vote. The argument for educating your children is valid, by 16 if they havn't learned gambling is going to have consequences it's probably too late. I also understand some parents can try their hardest and it's still going to go to shit, it's a problem and regulators don't seem to have the power or care factor to enforce changes to protect that segment. That basically leaves it to be the parents problem in the here and now.

-adolescence continues into the 20’s
-parents can’t be everywhere and stop everything all the time
-the fastest way to get a kid to want to do something is to, as a parent, tell them no

Society needs guard rails in addition to parental responsibility. Anything gambling/addictive like gambling needs to be appropriately age restricted. Gambling in games targeted at teens is ridiculous.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

House always wins folks.

Mr. House agree.

 

[Kaleinc]

Work some low skill minimum wage job flipping burgers or cleaning shitters during they day, come home and burn all the money you have and even more on CS skins, slot machines.

 

[Power Pro]

This physically makes me ill almost. I know that might sound like an overreaction, but it really is disgusting. All these big companies turning a blind eye to obvious illegal and immoral activities. We really are in one of the darkest timelines, because so much shit is going on unchecked, and it just keeps getting worse. So hard to not be depressed in this world when so many people are so fucking evil. I just want to punch, and kick in the nuts all those "esports" players wearing that shit on their clothes.

 

[STARSBarry]

This is one of the reasons I will never play the current valve offerings, and I walked away from TF2 after half a decade, soon after the crates showed up.

While I'm happy to see other large publishers move away from lootboxes I am sad to see valve become more entrenched, but a consumer I did what I could and made it so I'm not involved in the Steam marketplace and actively avoid games that do.

 

[calistan]

Dude hasn't made another Youtube video since those ones. What happened to him?

 

[Skifi28]

Dude hasn't made another Youtube video since those ones. What happened to him?

He accidentally fell from a 6th floor window. Gabe's presence in the same building was pure coincidence, naturally.