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Five months after receiving a cease and desist letter from the Valve Corporation , CSGOLounge and DOTA2Lounge have announced that they will put in place a self-funded money refund program for users affected by the shutdown. The company plans to start refunding frozen bot items no later than March The Facebook announcement said that:.
The same message also gave preliminary indication of the planned refund program. Alongside the money refund announcement, CSGOLounge has said that it will summarize the results of the new virtual coin bets and provide rewards for the most active users. Afterwards, coin balances will be set to their default condition on February 1, The only way to receive income was advertising.
The Washington State Gambling Commission has made its own determination that skin betting has led to illegal gambling. In August, CSGOLounge announced that it planned to seek regulatory approvals to continue its operations, and banned players from 18 countries, including the US , as it restructures its business.
The company is clearly trying to avoid being entangled in any future legal action regarding illegal betting so that it can create a viable business that is plainly operating within the law. A new action was filed just after Christmas , involving primarily the same lawyers who launched the first action. The smaller skin betting operators such as CSGOLounge may not have the financial resources to make a class action worthwhile, but even so ESforce and Borewick are wise to emphasize their legal position that they were in no way involved in any form of illegal gambling.
The money refund program may provide a clear exit from the previous business, allowing CSGOLounge to redefine itself and find a profitable business niche. There is no doubt that the skin gambling industry has been ruined by the scandals and abuses of early which ultimately led to Valve taking determined action. It is available free of charge here. Whether a viable skin betting industry can be salvaged remains doubtful , although the game developers are likely to retain the facility for players to buy and exchange skins because their customers want it.
They clearly want to satisfy the large demand for in-game betting, either for real money or as social gaming. What remains uncertain is the level of skin trading restrictions that game owners, distributors and broadcasters will impose to ensure that they remain within the law. New users signing up for the site Monday received free coins to bet with on upcoming CS: In an announcement on its site Monday morning, Lounge told users:.
As of today, we will be releasing our new Lounge betting system. This entails a couple of new features including; coins, betting, rankings, notifications, and more. Users will now have the option to place Lounge Coins as a bet on csgolounge. We have multiple tracking and ranking features so you can see the top predictors, highest winners and other stats.
With this, comes a new new look and a new notification system that will inform users about recent bet outcomes, announcements, new match posts, etc. Other features, are currently being worked on and will roll out as soon as possible. We are working on a solution for items withdrawal, please stay tuned for upcoming updates. The move resembles that of other sites which have pivoted to non-skins forms of esports wagering. Per comments on Reddit , it appears that the site still has not worked out a system for withdrawal.
It is also not clear how the new coin betting feature will make money , if it all. Nearly four hours after it went offline for maintenance, skin betting giant CSGOLounge returned to operations and announced it would limit betting functionality to users from countries where online esports betting is legal.
It said it planned to acquire a license to legally operate its esportsbook-style betting on CS: GO matches as if it were accepting real-money bets , signaling a potential move toward operating as a regulated sportsbook.
Lounge had previously facilitated skin betting worldwide, often in a legal grey area. Lounge, the first site named in the notice, still operated for more than 48 hours after that time period expired. Valve has not confirmed the authenticity of that letter. Global Offensive and Dota 2 have no monetary value. Nonetheless, Lounge said it would force users to comply with an updated version of its own terms of service. It re-emphasized that users must be 18 years old to bet, but because it enforces age verification on the honors system , the barrier to entry for younger players is easily subverted.
The site also maintains that, unlike a traditional sportsbook, it did not collect any commission on bets that it transacted in June The site has been in operation since late Third-party marketplaces like OPSkins facilitate the transfer of skins to real money, and vice versa. Skins range in value from one cent to thousands of dollars. GO matches in the first half of alone. Lounge is the largest skin betting website in the world. Even through the tumultuous month of July, the site still took in more than Each tournament featured 27 matches.
The site most recently took in a combined total of 6. The site has not existed without some controversies, though. It was one of three skin websites named in a recent lawsuit against Valve , accusing the company of being complicit in what it called an illegal gambling market.
In early , the game maker banned seven players from Valve-sponsored competitions for life after they were found to have placed high-value bets via Lounge on their own match , which they then attempted to throw. Lounge did not face any public repercussions for having its platform compromised by match-fixers, and in September of even sponsored a short-lived professional CS: Despite a barebones design and simple infrastructure, Lounge also enjoyed strong brand loyalty and consumer recognition.
Its sister site Dota2Lounge , which offers betting on the eponymous game, posted the same message shortly after. The nature of the maintenance, or when Lounge will be back online, is unknown. CSGOLounge is the largest skin betting website in the world. That window was believed to have expired July 29 , meaning Lounge still operated for over 48 hours after that time period expired. A copy of the letter can be read here. Another sportsbook-style skin betting website, Fanobet , appears to be continuing operations.
The Curacao-based website blocks US users from its site. Lounge had been the undisputed industry leader in the skin betting space since it was created in by a man named Robert Borewik. Despite a barebones design and simple infrastructure, Lounge also enjoyed strong brand loyalty and recognition. Lounge was one of three skin websites named in a recent lawsuit filed by a Connecticut man against Valve, accusing the company of being complicit in what it called an illegal gambling market.
While the lawsuit likely faces an uphill climb in the courts, it did claim that Valve knowingly allowed Lounge to link to Steam for purposes of facilitating commercial activities. Valve explicitly bans professional CS: GO players from wagering on their own matches. Lounge did not face any public repercussions for having its platform compromised by match-fixers, and in September of even sponsored a professional CS: The organization only existed for eight months before parting ways with its roster.
The suit was first reported by Polygon. You can read the complaint here. Read a brief primer on the market for skin gambling here. Second, based on the recent Mason V. Machine Zone ruling in the Maryland courts, virtual gambling under those conditions is not illegal. Background on the Mason V. Machine Zone decision here , text of the decision here. The decision is being appealed.
Another issue that may play a pivotal role in the trajectory of the case is the question of whether or not Valve directly profits from activity at third-party sites where skins are gambled or sold. GO through various websites and third parties. Jasper Ward of Jones Ward , attorney for the plaintiff, contended that, direct cut or not, Valve is still profiting from skin gambling. Another issue likely in play: How much responsibility does a product creator bear for the secondary usage of said product?
The question of the viability of the suit is only partially connected to the external impacts the existence of the suit might generate.
The suit comes at a point in time where regulators in various jurisdictions — including the U. The media attention the suit will generate could train a stronger spotlight on the market for skin gambling as those conversations progress.
You can read the full complaint here. The figures obtained by ESBR appear to illustrate a plateauing of skins betting on the average match, and underscore the idea that betting volume is correlated to television and online viewership. GO Lounge, the largest skins betting site by far. Skins wagering involves esports enthusiasts, often players themselves, wagering purely cosmetic items on the outcome of esports matches, such as those played in the ELEAGUE.
These unregulated third-party sites are what allow CS: GO skins to be a cash-liquid market, and what ultimately set prices. That skin total represents the 15th-largest amount of skins wagered on any CS: GO contest in on CS: That might not seem especially noteworthy, but the lounge accepts action on more than 5, CS: GO matches annually, putting the betting handle on that Ninjas-G2 match in the top third of the top one percent of all CS: GO matches on the lounge this year.
That included the Cloud 9 vs. Likely owing in part to the brand popularity of each team, even one of the early-week NiP-G2 matches exceeded , skins wagered , a mark no other early-week match has come close to. Unsurprisingly, the matches with the biggest promotional build-up and exposure e.
Semifinal matches take around 58, skins per match, while Tuesday and Wednesday one-game affairs average just shy of 51, skins wagered.