With last year’s gambling scandals of Counter Strike: Global Offensive still fresh in mind, it looks like item traders have turned their attention elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Valve was quick to move in on CS:GO gambling sites, and now it’s cracking down on the underworld of another of its popular multiplayer games: Team Fortress 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn July of last year we outlined our position on gambling web sites, specifically noting that Valve has no business relationship with these sites,\u201d the company said in a statement on its official website. \u201cAt that time we also began blocking many CS:GO gambling accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore recently, some gambling web sites started leveraging TF2 items. Today we began the process of blocking TF2 gambling accounts as well. We recommend you don\u2019t trade with these sites.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the world’s leading video game developers, the studio behind Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has been embroiled in a number of legal battles over the last few years, both against underground gambling sites and as a defendant.<\/p>\n
While it’s gone to great lengths to reign in the extent of illegal item betting, Valve still has a lot of work to do in clamping down on the dark underground of game gambling.<\/p>\n
The extent of the industry, in which players purchase in-game items and then on-sell them or wager them on eSports games via illegal gambling sites, has prompted Independent Australian Senator Nick Xenophon to propose a bill he says could make it illegal for Valve to solicit payments in exchange for items.<\/p>\n
That appears to be a move that attacks the developer rather than those explicitly using the system for monetary gain.<\/p>\n
The bill also proposed that as an alternative to a flat-out ban, age and\/or spending restrictions on games are applied instead.<\/p>\n
CS:GO currently offers in-game purchases, and features a slot-like process in which players can earn either common inexpensive items, or rare expensive items.<\/p>\n
Once a player receives an item, they can use it to bet on competitive eSports matches, an industry experts believe is worth more than US$7 billion.<\/p>\n
The underground item-betting scene went unchecked for a number of years, before a Florida mother took Valve to caught claiming her son had lost a “significant” amount of money gambling with in-game items.<\/p>\n
Valve responded by immediately issuing cease and desist letters to a number of gambling sites.<\/p>\n
Senator Xenophon’s proposed bill punishes Valve for having simply offered the service. The problem, however, is that certain items are worth a considerable amount of money due to the nature of their influence on the game. Other games offer a similar paid service, but the items available are generally cosmetic items such as costumes, not items that permit gameplay boosts. Seeing as Valve treats the items as a form of currency, it goes without saying that perhaps an official betting service open to adults would stop third-party illegal sites opening and exploiting minors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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