In a Steam update that came out recently, you can see a paragraph at the bottom that is quite something. Because with this update they are strictly against some things like selling content, gift cards or items, posting ads and also gambling. A small paragraph with a potentially big impact.
Twitter user xMercy had this to say about the update: “With all the gambling drama surrounding CS, there is now a new update from Steam. For the first time they have listed “Gambling” as a blocking reason. This means they could start blocking users who interact with gambling sites API.”
Community is against gambling
For many, this would be a quick and easy solution to finally get the issue of gambling and the controversy around it out of the way. Gambling and gaming is a discussion as old as time. Time and again, the topic is hotly debated, although the general zenus in the community tends to be against gambling.
With all this gambling drama around CS, there is a huge recent update from Steam…
For the first time, they added “gambling” as bannable.
That means they could start banning users that interact with gambling sites API.
Simple and easy way to end this cancer.
GG WP? pic.twitter.com/PKlqPzPsZf
— xMercy (@xMercy_CS) May 10, 2023
A ban by Valve on gambling could therefore have tangible consequences for some people who can no longer visit gambling sites as usual without being banned by Valve. One such site that has repeatedly come under fire is CSGO ROLL, for example, a person-to-person CS:GO skin trading marketplace.
CSGO ROLL and the G2 drama
CSGO ROLL recently announced a partnership with the Esports Team of G2 and have already started to promote the BLAST.tv CS:GO Major in paris, which will be the last Major in CS:GO before the switch to CS2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbxAL7l_Ajw
For this partnership, both CSGOROLL and G2 had to take a lot of criticism, because the organisation had decided to give their youngster, m0NESY, of all people, as a promotional face for this partnership. The problem with this was that m0NESY had just turned 18 the day before the advertising deal and was therefore just about the legal age for gambling. Many fans criticised the commercial and found it wrong that someone so young was used for gambling advertising.
After all, m0NESY is addressing a very young audience, possibly even under 18s, and this did not go down well with the community. Many would have preferred someone older who at least gave the impression of responsible gambling use.
Problems with gambling
Too young and thus illegal users of gambling sites have been a problem again and again in the past, because stories of children and young people who illegally made their parents’ credit cards glow and bought skins and other things on the internet for a lot of money without having the authorisation to do so emerged again and again.
For many parents, it was a rude awakening when their 16-year-old son bought a skin for several hundred dollars or euros. This had legal consequences and was much discussed in the CS:GO community, as well as by the companies behind it. It looks like Valve is now finally putting a stop to the whole issue.