YouTuber Trevor ‘Tmartn’ Martin has taken to YouTube to make excuses apologise over his Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gambling site, CS:GO Lotto.
The video hasn’t stopped Martin and CS:GO Lotto co-owner Thomas Cassell from being added to the lawsuit filed against Valve over CS:GO illegal gambling.
The suit, which alleges that Valve is responsible for “creating, sustaining and facilitating [a] market” where players can trade in-game weapon skins as if they were real-world casino chips now alleges that Martin and Cassell “actively promote Lotto as a gambling service, including to minors.”
Martin and Cassell are under fire for not properly disclosing their connections to CS:GO Lotto over myriad YouTube videos promoting the site and said gambling.
Meanwhile, one of the lawyers who’s filed the suit against Valve says what the publisher has done is “unconscionable”.
Jasper Ward, in an interview with Polygon, has lashed out at Valve and its decision to stay silent as more and more allegations are being made.
“Valve is like a bar owner who lets people set up roulette wheels and blackjack tables in the back, sells chips to teenagers on their way in the door, and then makes people cash out at the pawn shop across the street,” Ward said. “Oh, and it has created a new game it owns and on which those kids can gamble, then lets the bookies take bets on it in the corner booth.
“The fact that it’s Valve’s server and software instead of a bar, and Steam’s API instead of a physical roulette wheel and international websites like OPSkins instead of a pawn shop and Lounge instead of a bookie in the corner booth doesn’t change what Valve is doing: it has created a gambling ecosystem out of thin air, and its customers are getting scammed and losing money on rigged websites as a result.
“But Valve should have a chance to tell its side of the story, and we are anxiously awaiting their explanation.”
Ward is also in disbelief that Valve has unblocked CS:GO Lotto.
“Valve’s decision to unblock Lotto after this is mind boggling and I look forward to getting answers from Valve’s key decision makers on that,” Ward added. “Or even a quote on the record from someone at Valve about the Skins gambling economy would be a good start. Valve’s public silence while privately helping gambling sites operate in the Steam Marketplace is unconscionable.”
We’ll keep you in the loop.
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