• Home
  • Games
  • Games News
  • Valve Sued for Promoting 'Illegal Gambling' in Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Valve Sued for Promoting 'Illegal Gambling' in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Valve Sued for Promoting 'Illegal Gambling' in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Highlights
  • CS:GO is one of the most popular PC games of all time.
  • Its creator, Valve is being sued for the game's cosmetic items.
  • The lawsuit alleges that CS:GO is an 'illegal online gambling market".
Advertisement

Valve isn't just the company behind Steam - the world's most biggest PC game digital distribution service. It's also the maker of hits such as Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). And it seems that the latter has got the company in a spot of bother.

The popular competitive multiplayer shooter is central to Valve being sued. Reason being, playing CS:GO nets you skins - cosmetic items for the game's many guns. These can be traded outside the game for cash. Something a few Indian sites have been doing to their advantage what with a mushrooming cottage industry focused around using sales of CS:GO items to fuel cheaper game prices.

However it appears that the value of these digital goods haven't been restricted to this according to a report by Polygon. A lawsuit filed on behalf of Connecticut resident Michael John McLeod alleges that Valve and third-party sites (CSGO Diamonds, CSGO Lounge and OPSkins) which allow "knowingly allowed, supported, and/or sponsored illegal gambling by allowing millions of Americans to link their individual Steam accounts to third- party websites." The aforementioned websites, the suit says, skins for CS:GO, which can be purchased from Valve, "can ... easily be traded and used as collateral for bets."

"Valve owns the league, sells the casino chips, and receives a piece of the casino's income stream through foreign websites in order to maintain the charade that Valve is not promoting and profiting from online gambling, like a modern-day Captain Renault from Casablanca," the suit alleges.

McLeod says he purchased CS:GO skins to gamble, both as a minor and an adult, and lost money. He's seeking unspecified damages, and his lawyers are gearing up for a class-action lawsuit, which could be extremely expensive for Valve.

We won't be surprised if the outcome could see Valve limit trading of CS:GO items within the game itself.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Instagram Unveils Translation Button, Launches Recommendations for Videos
Brexit to Force Indian Firms to Rework Biz Strategy: Industry
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »