Earlier this year, Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive made the headlines on several occasions after the unlawful practices of skin gambling and betting sites were revealed. Evan penned this handy overview of how skin gambling works and investigated the legalities (or lack thereof) of the industry, before Valve itself slapped a number of operators with cease and desist orders. Although it's unclear at this stage which game they were leveraging, two British men have now been charged with offences under the UK Gambling Act.
As reported by the BBC, both Dylan Rigby and Craig Douglas have been charged with promoting lottery and advertising unlawful gambling, while Douglas has also been charged with inviting children to gamble. These prosecutions are thought to be the first involving betting on videogames.
The UK’s Gambling Commission has been looking into the rise of video game gambling over the past few months, writes the BBC, with the regulatory body now issuing warning to parents of potential underage victims. Both men accused appeared in Birmingham Magistrates’ Court earlier today, however the case has been adjourned to October 14.
“It has been estimated that the global market in betting on video games is worth as much as £4 billion,” reads the report. A more comprehensive overview of skin gambling as it applies to CS:GO can be found via that there link.
A beta of backyard FPS Neighbors: Suburban Warfare is out now, and the balance discussion is hysterical: nerf trash can lids and children
An FPS studio pulled its game from Steam after it got caught linking to malware disguised as a demo, but the dev insists it was actually the victim of a labyrinthine conspiracy
