Casino Operator Slaps Valve with Illegal Gambling Lawsuit

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Renowned global gaming giant Valve has been slapped with an illegal gambling lawsuit by a Native American nation that operates a casino in Washington. As it turns out, the gaming company has been reportedly fostering illegal gambling activities. Due to this, Valve has been able to benefit from an environment of unfair competition that comprised of licensed and regulated casinos that have to adhere to strict rules that are defined by the local and state authorities.

According to the lawsuit which was filed by Quinault Nation which owns and operates the Quinault Beach Resort & Casino in Ocean Shores, Washington, Valve has knowingly facilitated the use of textured digital weapons otherwise referred to as “skins” in number of popular games including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) as collateral in online gambling. These gambling activities are often carried out in third-party sites instead of Valve’s platform – the Native American nation believes that the so-called “skins gambling” that Valve is facilitating has been subjecting the citizens of Washington to “scam, unsafe and unfair gambling.”

“Valve is well aware of the skins gambling that goes on, is well aware that skins have real-world cash value, which has increased their popularity and value, and actively encourages and facilitates skins gambling,” reads a section of the lawsuit. “…Valve has profited handsomely for years from illegal online gambling, and has made only token efforts to stop it.”

Valve has been on the spotlight of the issue of skins for quite some time now but the company has maintained that it has no relationships whatsoever with the third-party skin gambling sites. In fact, in 2016, the gaming company said that it had sent cease-and-desist letters to over 40 of the skin gambling sites that were using its Steam gaming marketplace. It even went as far as shutting down the Steam accounts that were being used by some of those sites.

However, the Quinault Nation is not convinced and believes that the success of some of Valve’s video game titles such as CS: GO can be party attributed to skin gambling.

The Touchy Issue of Skin Gambling

Needless to say, while not many jurisdictions have formulated policies pertaining to the issue, skin gambling is a rather shadowy territory with severe risks of underage gambling among other things. Just like in the case of loot boxes, many more authorities are beginning to seek out a deeper insight into skin gambling. Most recently, Danish gambling regulator, Spillemyndigheden, identified some skin gambling sites that were illegally operating in Denmark – steps are being taken to weed all these sites out. Depending on how the Valve vs Quinault Nation court case plays out, we might get to see a lot of changes with regards to regulation or elimination of skin gambling sites in the near future.

Darcy isn’t your typical bookworm. She loves to read, but there’s adventure in her life, too. As she would put it – words and play, makes for much to say. Our Darcy is a poet and a gaming journalist. She has a tight grasp of on the latest regulatory developments not only in her home in Italy, but all across Europe. Darcy is our go-to person when we need to make sense of local regulation across Europe and neighbouring regions.