So in the past like two days I've been reading about this.

Lets start off first with what I know.

In the United States of America online gambling is illegal. I know outside of the United States of America like in Europe it's legal.

The next thing is these YouTubers one of em which admitted to it it seems like the FBI is pursuing this with the class action lawsuit one person filed.

Third the Steam Marketplace which allows you to purchase from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive the keys for crates for $2.50 dollars (USD) and then sell on the Steam Marketplace the skins is a form of gambling.

Purchase, sell, purchase, sell.

Now people are asking why not go after the YouTubers and not VALVe, well the FBI seems to be going after both not just one.

What does this mean for the future of VALVe? I don't know I'm scared of VALVe getting hit with a huge fine by the federal government. VAVLe will possibly have to close down the Steam Marketplace because of this.

VALVe was actually ok or so with these online gambling websites. Which might mean big trouble for them because of the FBI now.

Anyways here's more of the news that bbc.com reported on.

www.bbc.com/news/technology-36702905

Yeah, online gambling has been something like the Wild West for sometime now. I wonder how this is going to turn out.

Yep, in a way VALVe's Steam Marketplace not with just the skins for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but the Steam Trading Cards and Team Fortress 2 inventory items has been as a form of gambling for some PC gamers.

I see people who juggle for prices to sell and to purchase Bill's hat from the pre-order of Left 4 Dead 2, which I still have in my Team Fortress 2 backpack from when I pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 back when I was still purchasing PC versions of video games from Steam.

The CEO of valve just needs to run for president then the FBI will let them off after their investigation, regardless of if they actually broke laws or not.

Honestly, this needed to be done a long time ago. Or atleast have some restrictions put into place. I've heard stories of children putting hundreds of dollars into purchasing cases behind their parents back and it's becoming ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is that valve supports and takes advantage of kids by allowing them to gamble.

I've heard stories of children putting hundreds of dollars (USD) of their parents credit cards purchasing the Steam Trading Cards just for being addicted to leveling up their badges.

All of this from weapon skins in a video game. I will never understand it.

It's because it's easy to gamble with the skins when you purchase the keys for $2.50 dollars (USD). And then sell the skins again or the knife skins for high amounts of money.

Online gambling is illegal in the United States of America. It doesn't matter if it's at casinos or not.

When money is involved and you gamble with it it's illegal no matter what.

how the heck can you consider Steam trading cards "gambling"? you get a certain number of them for free by playing the games, and then can either trade or buy the ones your missing to fill the collection..


thats like saying baseball cards you get in packs of gum are gambling..



people do realize what gambling is, right?

I understand how it works. I simply find it stupid how things have escalated to the point these weapon skins are actually worth thousands of dollars.

i just reread the article (which i had happened to read earlier while at work), but the issue in the article you linked has nothing to do with the Steam Marketplace..



the issue was a 3rd party website, not affiliated with Valve in anyway, in which people could use Counter Strike items in place of currency in a gambling nature..


that is very different to how the Steam Marketplace works




EDIT: I don't know why your saying its valves fault Ballowers, the very article your talking about when you made this thread clearly shows it was a 3rd party website not affiliated with them at all..

Whether or not a minor is in danger of gambling online is not the issue. What is the issue is why the child would have access to their parent's credit card information in the first place. My kid was never in danger of this because she never even came close to having access to my account numbers. And I've been with Steam ever since Half Life 2 came out.

That's not Valve's fault, that's the parent's fault for not keeping on top of their kids.

Not only that, it's safe to bet that Valve knows gambling laws and has lawyers to study those laws.

Where in that article does it even mention Valve, or trading cards or the Steam Marketplace?

This is coming across more like a attack by the Op on Valve and Steam, because as we've heard from him sooooooo many times, GoG is far, far superior and CDPR is a nice company that only promotes rainbows and bunny rabbits.

People would bid and spend over $1k US on Ebay for weapons and armor in Diablo 2 over a decade ago.

I remember in 1999 and 2000 people would pay a grand on a castle in Ultima Online.

As I said. People were asking why take on VALVe with this and not the people who started the 3rd party websites.

VALVe was like eh or something and the FBI will be looking into this in the next few weeks or months. I know how the class action lawsuits work and what the FBI considers illegal in terms of online gambling.

The FBI will be looking into VALVe to see what's going on even though the 3rd party websites are not affiliated with VALVe, those items being sold are VALVe property, the skins for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

And as I said online gambling is highly illegal.

Make what you will of it.

I don't mean to sound rude here Ballowers, but maybe thats the problem..



everytime you make one of these, lets call them "anti-steam threads", you post an article and then start making all these claims that are mentioned no where in it and it comes across as you just trying to demonize them.. perhaps its you "making of it what you will", subconsciously trying to somehow twist the data to support your dislike for the company..


you are making a series of allegations on this particular thread, to which almost none of them are backed by (or even slightly mentioned in) the article you posted that you are supposed to be talking about

Ok I found a forbes.com article explaining it more.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/07/05/cs-go-lotto-controversy-raises-issues-about-youtuber-disclosure-valves-indifference/#2788b4824500

The argument made by Martin and Cassel is that they never kept their involvement with CS:GO Lotto a secret, they just didn’t publicize it. Unfortunately, that may not be good enough for the FTC, which requires conspicuous disclosure on digital advertising, which clearly was not the case in Martin and Cassel’s videos which show them winning big and encouraging their (often very young) followers to gamble using the site as well.

At least one Counter-Strike player http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-28/counter-strikes-valve-face-lawsuit-over-skins-gambling/7546646 itself for being complacent in all this. The suit says that Valve “knowingly allowed … and has been complicit in creating, sustaining and facilitating [a] market” where players use skins essentially as stand-ins for casino chips.

The idea is that Valve benefits greatly from this gambling industry, as it results in a massive outpouring of players (and even non-players) buying skins legally from them to be gambled on these third party websites. Some also speculate that CS:GO gambling results in much higher viewership for eSports matches, given how much is put on the line for the results of various matches.

There's more to read.

I'm not trying to bash or hate on VALVe and Steam. It's just the way the FBI works when it comes to online gambling.

VALVe is benefiting from this, so of course the FBI will investigate.

Most likely Tmartin and the other guy will go to jail.

Anything with money letting you bet as "chip"s is considered illegal.

I would know my own countries federal felonies like online gambling and what happens if you tried a business like that wouldn't I?

Good luck with that. Like I said above, Valve is most probably well versed in the law with online gambling, with a pack of lawyers who are well versed in online business laws.

and even then valve was not affiliated with the site in question at all..



if people started using chocolate bars as pseudo-poker chips, its not the chocolate company that takes responsibility..

I just read the article. Forbes said twice that there is no regulation against what Valve is doing. That confirms what I said about Valve being well versed in online gambling laws.


If you're going to quote articles quote everything. I'm sorry but Valve is in the clear here.

Funnybunny and fantasyjunkie are both correct. Gambling with some items purchased on Steam is not Steams problem. By that logic, illegal gambling using US currency should result in the US Mint being investigated.

of course they were in the clear, they were in no way affiliated with the site in question..


it seems like Ballowers is to quick to jump on the "hard times for valve" bandwagon, I have no idea how he could interpret this as leading to the shut down of the steam marketplace (granted, i find the concept of the steam marketplace really odd, buying and selling virtual trading cards in order to get a wallpaper, but i will still admit valve is in no way committing any legal "wrongs" with it)

Of course VALVe is in the clear I specifically said in the topic title that the FBI and FTC will possibly POSSIBLY investigate VALVe.

Do people like ignore this?


The FBI works in their own way.

The FBI will investigate why VALVe allowed the 3rd party websites to do it.

Yes I know that VALVe doesn't have much control over it.

If I were the director of the FBI I would investigate VALVe as well to make sure they are complying with the federal regulations.

Eh, I give up I will just let this play out and see what the courts decide, then I guess it will be worth reporting it then.