tomcassell

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  • Twitch says 'CS:GO' gambling broadcasts are prohibited

    by 
    Sean Buckley
    Sean Buckley
    07.14.2016

    The niche world of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skin gambling is starting to crumble. Last week, two YouTube personalities were outed as the owners of CS:GO Lotto, a third-party gambling website that used CS:GO weapon skins as currency for online casino games. Yesterday, Valve announced the service was in violation of its terms and service agreement. Now, Twitch is chiming in, stating that any stream that violates a game's service agreement is prohibited from broadcasting -- specifically calling out gambling businesses that misuse Steam's OpenID API.

  • Isaac Brekken/Invision/AP

    Valve distances itself from 'Counter-Strike' gambling sites

    by 
    Timothy J. Seppala
    Timothy J. Seppala
    07.14.2016

    Last week the internet was buzzing with news that a few popular YouTube gaming personalities were involved in ethically shady business ventures. No, different ones from this week. What happened was Tom "Syndicate" Cassell and Trevor "TmarTn" Martin own the website CS:GO Lotto, which deals in gambling with randomly-dropped skins that change the appearance, but not function of weapons and other items in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The cosmetic items come in crates, and those crates are unlocked with real money. So, those unlocked-for-cash skins become currency for betting on lotteries and casino-style games.