YouTube's Biggest Stars Are Pushing a Shady Polish Gambling Site (thedailybeast.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Daily Beast: Untold riches are promised on Mystery Brand, a website that sells prize-filled "mystery boxes." If you buy one of the digital boxes, some of which cost hundreds of dollars, you might only get a fidget spinner -- or you might get a luxury sports car. For just $100, users can win a box filled with rare Supreme streetwear. For only $12.99, they can win a Lamborghini, or even a $250 million mega-mansion billed as "the most expensive Los Angeles realty." Or at least that's what some top YouTubers have been telling their young fans about the gambling site -- with the video stars apparently seeing that as a gamble worth taking, especially after a dip in YouTube advertising rates.

Over the past week, hugely popular YouTube stars like Jake Paul and Bryan "Ricegum" Le have encouraged their fans to spend money on Mystery Brand, a previously little-known site that appears to be based in Poland. In their videos, Paul and Le show themselves betting hundreds of dollars on the site for a chance to open a digital "box." At first, they win only low-value prizes like fidget spinners or Converse sneakers. By the end of the video, though, they have won thousands of dollars worth of tech and clothing, like rare pairs of sneakers or Apple AirPods. If they like the prize, the YouTube stars have it shipped to their house. The gambling site doesn't list the owner or location where it's based, although the site's terms of service say it's "subject to the laws and jurisdiction of Poland." To make matters worse, users of the site might not even receive the items they believed they have won. "During using the services of the website You may encounter circumstances in which Your won items will not be received," the terms of service reads.

Also, while the ToS say that underage users are ineligible to receive prizes, many of the YouTubers promoting the site have audiences who are underage. "[Jake Paul], for example, has acknowledged that the bulk of his fanbase is between 8 and 15 years old," reports The Daily Beast.

Comments

Right!

[Locke2005]

There is NO WAY this could POSSIBLY be a scam! There is no way the people who got a Lamborghini for $13 are actually paid actors!

Re:Right!

[zlives]

i don't know, my shelf is full of cars i got for less than 13$s

Re:Right!

[rmdingler]

Perhaps we should give the product-hawking celebrities the benefit of the doubt... and a bonus anti-tiger rock for their trouble.

Re:Right!

[SuricouRaven]

But what sort of scam? there are many types. The advertising is almost certainly a scam, yes - but what of the site itsself? Is it an outright scam where no prizes of value are ever won, ever? Or is it merely the acceptable scam of gambling, where the big prizes are won, but only incredibly rarely?

This should be illegal

[jonwil]

Online gambling is already illegal in the US, why is it not illegal to run ads for it? YouTube should be pushed into adding a clause to their terms of service that prevents anyone from running ads or sponsors for things that are otherwise illegal.

Re:This should be illegal

[Calydor]

Pretty sure that is already in the ToS, and this is going to backfire HARD.

Re:This should be illegal

[spagthorpe]

They could, but they won't; because YT makes tons of money on them.

Re:This should be illegal

[sd4f]

The problem is this is a bigger chestnut to crack than it may seems. Loot boxes have crept into many games, and ultimately it is gambling, but what has been really insidious about it is that it targets children. What this OP mentions, has already happened on Counter-Strike, with certain youtubers promoting their own scam sites for in game items/skins. Just go on youtube and look up any number of unlock videos, there's heaps. People don't bother playing the game, rather they want to just try to unlock digital art work.

Valve has a lot to answer for with this, because they certainly put in a lot of effort into targeting kids with gambling. Until something happens to regulate Valve, their platform Steam, and their games, then nothing is being done about it.

Re:This should be illegal

[F.Ultra]

I really wonder if the TOS with "During using the services of the website You may encounter circumstances in which Your won items will not be received" is actually legal in Poland to begin with.

Re:This should be illegal

[Can'tNot]

Because this doesn't count as gambling. There are a huge number of products which do this now, from video games to legos. Here is a popular line of dolls which does the same thing. The key, the thing which distinguishes this from gambling, is that you always get some kind of prize. Gambling is specifically defined as a possibility to lose your money, not to get something less valuable than you wanted. As long as you always get something with non-zero value, then it doesn't count as gambling.

Re:This should be illegal

[Igmuth]

So, as long as the casino always gives you a penny, or even a just shiny rock back on each bet, it's not gambling?

Re:This should be illegal

[RedMagic]

For the record: online gambling in Poland is also illegal.

Re:This should be illegal

[Can'tNot]

Well you don't call them bets, but that's the right idea. Call them lootboxes, or prize packs or something. You might also want to stay away from using money as prizes, since a loss in that case can be easily quantified in court. You'd also probably do better with this if you weren't a casino, which are readily identified with gambling, so that you could claim that this an alternative business model rather than just gambling by another name.

Re:This should be illegal

[RedMagic]

The full text of that TOS paragraph says: 9. DRAWBACKS AND DEFECTS 9.1. During using the services of the website You may encounter circumstances in which Your won items will not be received. In this case, the Web site will make every effort to resolve this situation and try as soon as possible to resolve Your problem. The maximum term of consideration of the defect/error is 45 working days. So, as far as I understand, it's just an explanation of how they'll handle issues with delivery of the prizes (if not particularly convincing). Clearly a translation, not something written up by an English native. And as for Poland, contracts must be fulfilled -- obviously, so it's not legal for someone to declare "oh, you may not receive the items we promised".

Re:This should be illegal

[rsmith-mac]

So long as you can't then immediately use that item as currency to make a new bet, yeah, there's a legitimately good chance that would pass legal muster right now.

Re:This should be illegal

[thegarbz]

You're comparing them to things that are being classified as gambling and are being banned the world over.

Saying it's "not gambling, it's like lootboxes" is the equivalent of saying "it's not gambling, it's gambling" in pretty much every country which has had a legal inquiry into the practice.

Re:This should be illegal

[Can'tNot]

To my knowledge, the only country which has done anything like what you're describing is Belgium. When you say, "in pretty much every country," which countries are you referring to, exactly?

In the United States I believe that the legal precedent was set quite some time ago over baseball cards, which are functionally equivalent to loot boxes / prize packs / etc. That's a vague recollection though, I would not be able to cite that case.

Re:This should be illegal

[AmiMoJo]

I dunno, they have sanctioned Logan Paul in the past, dropping him from their premium services and suspending his ad revenue temporarily. He's hardly the only one either, they have closed lots of popular, high revenue channels. Especially those aimed at children, like those creepy Spiderman/Elsa videos.

Re:This should be illegal

[thegarbz]

To my knowledge, the only country which has done anything like what you're describing is Belgium

That's okay, knowledge can be built on:
Belgium - banned.
Netherlands - actively called out what components of it make it gambling and some of the industry has responded by customising how it works in the NL.
UK - not banned but formally recognised as a form of gambling by the UK gambling commission. On hearing this the Isle of Man banned them.
Australia - regulated under gambling laws but recognised difficulty in enforcement.
China - regulated under gambling laws.
Japan - banned.
South Korea - regulated under gambling laws.
Singapore - banned.
France - Star Wars Battlefront II's loot boxes were deemed not to be gambling, but the decision noted that it does not apply to any other game.
Sweden - Tabled a law to regulate them as a lottery.

In the United States I believe that the legal precedent was set quite some time ago over baseball cards

The United States has not yet looked into loot boxes and the nature of gambling laws mean that individual iteration of loot boxes needs to be individually assessed. The FTC is in the process of doing that now for some games. We covered this on Slashdot.

$13 what about $0.75 CAR CAR CAR slots?

[Joe_Dragon]

$13 what about $0.75 CAR CAR CAR slots?

Who?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yet more YouTube "stars" that I've never heard of before this article.

Loot boxes

[burtosis]

Now instead of blowing the remaining balance of the last working credit card people have on stupid digital loot boxes that are full of worthless digital items you can blow it all on digital loot boxes that are full of real world worthless items. Jokes on them though, even if you win that mansion or sports car you can't use it without an internet connection.

This is my surprised face

[theCat]

YouTube is predatory on children. There are is a lot worse than this going on. At least children will have a hard time coming up with big money to blow on these gambling schemes, however, some of the other cr*p they run across is absolutely diabolical.

Re:This is my surprised face

[Anonymous Coward]

The number of child traumatizing finger family videos that just come up a few layers deep into whatever I put on for my kid is amazing.

These people have money and must hate kids deeper than I can imagine for the time and effort being put into it.

Kids web games are right out once you see how soon they devolve into C-section or infected teeth removal Elsa and all the rest.

Everyone else gets immediately stomped on for copyright infringement (Soulja Boy will probably walk too), but Youtube and all the media companies seem to have no problem with Spiderman or anything +Hitler murders everyone finger family vids. Then your kid is at daycare and they come home singing finger family they learned from there too.

Re:This is my surprised face

[Gravis Zero]

YouTube is predatory on children. There are is a lot worse than this going on. [...] some of the other cr*p they run across is absolutely diabolical.

What is some of the diabolical stuff? I'm honestly curious.

Re:This is my surprised face

[rsmith-mac]

I'm assuming the GP is making a reference to Elsagate. (Infographic)

The best way to describe it is extreme shock content, except intentionally aimed at audiences too young to understand parody and satire. The sheer weirdness of the worst content defies all logical explanation.

Re:This is my surprised face

[Tapewolf]

These people have money and must hate kids deeper than I can imagine for the time and effort being put into it.

I would expect at least some of it was created by bored teenagers. Back when I was a member of that demographic I put far too much effort into taking things aimed at younger kids and twisting them into something that would today be called 'edgy' for the amusement of myself and my friends. Henry's Cat exhorting people to join an Irish terror group, Honey Monster from Sugar Puffs being turned into a mafia don, editing a Mah-Jongg christmas tile set so the three kings were assassinating baby Jesus in the crib and so forth.

It being the early 90s I had no internet access, and the alterations were done crudely with scissors and marker pen (or the Mah-jongg tile editor). Given the kind of content creation software available now, I can easily imagine some of this stuff being created by a 13-year old with pirated software and too much time on their hands.

Gambling

[dohzer]

No need for the word "shady". That's implied by the word "gambling"

What do you expect?

[Chas]

You get these guys, they build big on a platform.

Then you start fucking with their money...

So they turn to alternative methods of securing funding.

Occasionally, you get some of them falling for shit like this.