CS:GO’s gambling community has been reduced by roughly 40 high-roller traders overnight as Valve’s second ban wave commences. As of June 28, over $2 million worth of Counter-Strike skins have been lost and are likely never to return.
These bans come after Valve’s initial skin-gambling raid in May and yesterday removed accounts with skin collections worth as high as $367,300, according to trading platforms in the industry.
A collection of these traders were allegedly tied to G2’s sponsor CSGORoll, a website also at the receiving end of claims involving “illegal” activities and “money laundering” by competitor, CSGOEmpire. A list created by CSGOEmpire includes the Steam Accounts, Twitter handles, and CSGORoll names of skin traders, with almost all being community banned by Valve.
A community ban permanently prevents Steam users from trading their skins. This means banned-traders skins sit in a permanent inventory limbo, or until the ban is lifted by Valve itself.
Valve previously began its assault on the skin-gambling community by banning three traders with collections worth more than six figures earlier this year. While Valve’s been the judge, jury, and executioner, the gavels come down via other entities’ pushback regarding illegal gambling.
The Australian government has kept a close eye on CS:GO gambling websites. CSGORoll access was the first to be banned by the Australian government in May 2023.
This isn’t the first time Valve’s had to deal with skin-gambling websites. The Counter-Strike developers tore through the industry in 2016 after the Washington Gambling Commission sent letters to Valve president Gabe Newel, forcing the company to change its policy on skin-gambling websites.
CSGORoll also received backlash after creating a gambling advertisement with G2’s Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov. CSGORoll released a video on the day m0nesy turned 18, leading to questions about the video’s filming and its ethicality from the community.
Update June 29, 2023: $5,885,195 worth of skins have been lost after 82 trading accounts were banned earlier today, according to PriceEmpire.com. The highest-valued trading account was worth $376,631.79 as of publication.
