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Steam Warns Users Against Gambling Site After YouTube Stars Discovered As Owners
Tom Phillips, reporting for EuroGamer: Steam has begun warning users not to use a high-profile Counter-Strike: GO gambling website after its ownership turned out to be two YouTube stars -- who were also using YouTube to promote the site. Trevor "TmarTn" Martin and Tom "Syndicate" Cassell are listed in newly-uncovered business records as the president and vice-president, respectively, of online gambling site CS:GO Lotto. The news of CS:GO Lotto's ownership came as a surprise to viewers who have watched the pair promote the site on their channels, where both YouTube stars can be seen gambling -- and winning big money -- while using it. Neither had publicly disclosed their full roles in the site. TmarTn had not even disclosed his videos as being promotional tools. Attempt to log in to CS:GO Lotto now and you are greeted with the following warning message: "The URL you are attempting to log in to has been blocked by our moderators and staff. This site may be engaged in phishing, scamming, spamming, or delivering malware."
This is incorrect. They were winning items and skins that had a high face value, but the only way to get cash for them would be to sell them off on other sketchy websites.
The problem here isn't the douche with the camera. Focusing on the douche with the camera ignores the bigger problem: the parallel - and thus, unregulated - economy built on top of Steam.
As with any parallel economy, you have fraud, scams and other abuses. Since the only police is Valve, and Valve has no interest in putting a stop to it because it is massively profitable for them, the abuses won't stop.
Occasionally, Valve puts their foot down, but, usually, they are more concerned about the attention that this might attract. More attention can potentially mean an official investigation, followed by regulation, and that would hurt Valve's business. So they suppress the more visible cases, while maintaining the status quo.