A Brief History Of CSGO Betting

The idea of CSGO betting began shortly after Valve introduced weapon skins into the game in 2013. These items, purely for cosmetic purposes, were marketable and tradable, meaning they could be bought, sold, and exchanged with other players in the community.

The fact that these skins had real-world value brought up the idea of using them as gambling chips. Not long after skins were released in the game, these pixels would lay out the foundation of skin betting, where players would wager their skins.

Around the same time this was happening, Counter-Strike’s professional scene was also expeditiously expanding, gaining lots of traction and popularity. The dots connected, and people began betting their Counter-Strike skins on professional matches and tournaments.

It is safe to say that skin betting had a direct impact on Counter-Strike’s esports scene, as more people would tune into these matches because they had money on the line. With skin betting and the professional industry walking hand-in-hand, there was a surge in both the betting market and the interest in Counter-Strike matches.

The first real website to capitalize on the rise of Counter-Strike skins and betting is CSGOLounge. You can drop this name to any veteran player and it would ring a bell, whether they were a gambler or not.

The CSGOLounge website was launched in 2013, shortly after Valve dropped weapon skins into the game. Initially, the website acted as a trading platform where players could post trading listings of skins they had and desired.

However, the owners quickly took action when skin betting was becoming extremely prevalent within the community, and CSGOLounge created a betting section where players could wager their skins on professional matches. It quickly became the go-to platform for CSGO betting.

Players could deposit their weapon skins to CSGOLounge via one of their automated bots, and these skins would act as virtual currency that can be used to bet on matches. The website had a sleek interface that attracted even more users.

At its peak, CSGOLounge was an incredibly successful project. The website was handling millions of dollars in bets daily, and traffic would shoot upward if there was a Major tournament going on. Additionally, the website strengthened the Counter-Strike community as fans would discuss matches with each other and become more engaged with the professional scene.

When people saw the success CSGOLounge had, it was only natural that individuals and businesses would enter this ripe market as competitors. As a result, more CSGO and gambling sites were introduced. Though this gave players additional options and variety to bet on, what ensued was more trouble. Throughout the next few years, a lot of gambling and betting-related scandals emerged.

Match-fixing

CSGOLounge was going great, and members of the community enjoyed betting on matches. However, professional players had the idea of betting against themselves and intentionally losing the match. This act is a massive breach of the integrity of esports.

The first notable case was the infamous iBUYPOWER scandal. The North American roster was one of the best teams in the region and a serious global competitor. However, four of their players decided to throw a match against NetCodeGuides.com to make easy money.

The culprits were caught months after the incident, and the team members and managers were handed lifetime bans for this shameful act. This news of this incident sent shockwaves throughout the community and showed how vulnerable the esports scene has become because of betting.

Underage gambling

Another prevalent issue in CSGO betting was underage gambling. Websites such as CSGOLounge have a lack of official regulation, as the website was not operating under any notable licenses.

This unregulated market has allowed many issues to slip in, with underage gambling being one of the most serious ones. It was difficult for CSGO betting sites to verify the age of its users, and kids could easily lie about their age and gain easy access to these websites and place bets just like the Age Rating For CS2/CSGO.

There were thousands of minors that were exposed to CSGO betting, as it was the talk of the town in the Counter-Strike community. As a result, lots of ethical and legal concerns were raised regarding CSGO gambling websites.

Conflict of interest

Numerous influencers, mainly Twitch streamers or YouTubers were hired by gambling websites to promote their platforms. This was a good strategic move for gambling sites to attract more attention and players.

However, things went wrong when content creators secretly owned shares in the betting websites they were playing on and promoting. The biggest incident comes from TmarTn and Syndicate, who promoted CSGOLotto when they had part ownership in the business.

When the community found out, many questions were raised on whether they used their ownership to rig games in their favor and essentially scam legitimate players. Such conflict of interest led to unfair practices and is overall a breach of ethical conduct.

Match-fixing and underage gambling were already serious issues to be dealt with, but the CSGOLotto incident was the last straw. After such a massive scandal occurred, Valve was forced to step in to deal with the situation.

The actual Washington State Gambling Commission sent an urgent order to Valve to perform a cease and desist operation to CSGO gambling websites in July 2016. Valve was forced to track down all prominent skin betting sites and restrict their access from the Steam platform.

Additionally, Valve implemented a new trading rule, where items received in a trade would be locked in a player’s inventory for seven days. This trade lock meant players could not deposit and withdraw skins like they normally could, as there would be a very long delay to when they would receive their items.

This led dozens of Counter-Strike gambling sites to run out of business and shut down entirely. A lot of legal pressure was created, and business owners did not want to risk what happened to TmarTn and Syndicate to happen to them.

After a long decline of Counter-Strike skin betting, a better solution was created. Sportsbook websites started investing in the esports scene, where users would be involved in direct cash betting instead of using Counter-Strike skins as a medium of exchange.

Additionally, these websites were backed with regulations and licenses which tackle previous issues such as underage gambling and conflicts of interest. These “esportsbooks” worked similarly to traditional sportsbooks, offering users with fixed betting odds and paying out winnings in cash instead of virtual items.

Though skin gambling still exists, most Counter-Strike players have grown up and turned to using cash methods instead. Overall, esports betting sites have helped the Counter-Strike scene grow, as prominent bookmakers would sponsor professional teams, helping to pay player salaries.

After such a messy past in CSGO betting history, the current trends and state of betting is much more structured and safer. Countries are imposing additional regulations to ensure betting sites are not allowing minors in and not performing deceptive activities.