Following the rise and fall of e-sports gambling within the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community, some of the gambling operators have attempted to go legit. This includes attempting to get licenses and influence from actual gambling sanctions in various regions to allow for safe, legal betting on skins and other items for games like Counter-Strike. Well, when the Australian government was approached about it, they quickly shot it down.
New Zealand’s Telkom Gaming did a quick write-up on the news based on an even briefer report by ABC News (the Australian version). After being approached by some in order to legalize video game gambling in Australia, Consumer and Business Affairs Minister John Rau shot down the idea, stating…
“Children are particularly vulnerable to the attraction of gambling on sporting contests conducted on the platform of video games,”
“The Government is determined to keep our children cyber-safe. We do not want them to be introduced to gambling under the guise of a game.”
It’s the “think of the children response”.
However, they can’t be blamed for taking this approach because that’s literally what some YouTubers were doing with the promotion of illegal gambling services for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The YouTubers who ran or had some sort of business affiliation with the gambling outlets were promoting the the services through their YouTube and Twitch channels where majority of their audience happened to be young gamers.
Soliciting gambling services to underage persons is illegal in most states (and countries), so as you can imagine certain YouTubers came under foul and fire from lawyers and federal commissions alike.
Given Australia’s strict rules and regulations on gaming in the region, it’s completely unsurprising that they would prohibit legal gambling rings within the region for betting on e-sports and gaming competitions.
For now, various legal and government agencies have been looking into the gambling rings surrounding Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Valve has also begun cracking down on gambling rings using the OpenID API, advising these outlets to cease and desist their operations.
(Main image courtesy of Skyline)
