CSGO Lotto owners sued for promoting an illegal gambling service

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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Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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