A Polygon report says CSGO Lotto co-owners Trevor "Tmartn" Martin and Thomas Cassell have been added to a class action lawsuit filed last month against Valve. The suit alleges that Valve “has knowingly allowed an illegal online gambling market” to flourish around the purchase, trade, and wagering of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins.
CSGO Lounge, CSGO Diamonds, and OPSkins are already cited in the action as “unnamed co-conspirators,” but the Polygon report says the amendment now names Martin and Cassell as defendants also. As owners of the site, “they actively promote Lotto as a gambling service, including to minors,” it says.
It's probably not the end of Martin and Cassell's legal woes, but it's certainly an interesting beginning. This lawsuit covers much greater range, and with far broader implications, than the simple question of what the CSGO Lotto owners did, and which regulations they broke along the way, and that could actually make it tougher to successfully prosecute. We'll be taking a closer look at the case against Valve in an upcoming story, but for now I don't think anyone should consider this a slam-dunk.
Martin posted an “apology” video yesterday, but quickly removed it following a powerful wave of criticism of his obvious effort to shift blame and dodge responsibility. Following this, Martin's lawyer told Eurogamer there would be "no further public comments on the matter."
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Valve signed a deal for Counter-Strike 2 in 2003 because they were 'running on fumes', and Gabe Newell was so happy he made a celebratory knife with his own hands
