This week has been a mess for the YouTube community, even for those not involved in this scandal. It has gotten the attention of outlets all over such as us, GameInformer, and even ESPN. It has blown up into a massive story with more and more developments happening each day.
Today, a Florida woman filed a lawsuit on behalf of her child against Valve as a complaint of Trevor Martin and Tom Cassel who are the owners of CSGO Lotto, a site which allows CS:GO players to gamble away their skins. While Cassel and Martin could have been sued for a number of things, this specific suit mentions the use of Valve allowing third-party sites such as CSGO Lotto to promote gambling. Players can link their Steam accounts to these third-party sites so they can gamble theirs weapon skins away which in turn can be cashed in for up to thousands of dollars. For those unaware, gambling is illegal for those under 18 in the United States and the suit states "they actively promote Lotto as a gambling service, including to minors."
Martin issued an apology video yesterday before quickly removing it after getting loads of hate. His video focused on just one of the many things he was being criticized and didn't really acknowledge the fact that he made it seem like he wasn't affiliated with them. It's safe to say it's been a rough week for Martin and Cassel and it will probably only get worse.
Three other YouTubers have also been exposed as doing shady stuff in the CS:GO community ranging from the same issue as Martin and Cassel to rigging videos and receiving money for it. As always kids, don't believe everything you see on the internet sometimes it's just too good to be true.
[Polygon]
