That article isn't great so I'll try to summarise as best as I can in an ELI5 fashion:CLOWNSHOES wrote:kerberus wrote:Totally agree Dallas. Spotted below the other day - where do you post it?
YouTuber Nepenthez charged over video game gambling site.
bbc.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37385555
Crossover between reality,virtuality,legality,advertising and experimentising????? or trialling. Or sumtin' like t'at (I t'ink)
Wait, what exactly were they doing ? Article isnt very clear to me
The most popular "first person shooter/fps" eSport is a PC game called Counter-Strike. The idea is to kill all the opposing team or plant/defuse a bomb in specific areas. The guns used in game can be styled with "skins" which are basically just artwork on the guns. These "skins" can be bought directly from Steam (the gaming platform behind Counter-Strike) for real world money. They can also be traded between players. All of a sudden you have a completely unregulated currency.
On top of this, Steam has an API which developers can use to make interfaces for players to trade skins between each other. Skin gambing sites started to pop up all over the place (completely unregulated) where players can bet skins on casino table games and/or bet on pro eSports matches.
Sounds dodgy? It gets worse...
Video streamers like the one mentioned in the BBC article were broadcasting their gambling activities online for all ages to watch. There were some cases of these streamers actually OWNING the sites themselves but broadcasting as if they were new players.
"Hey, look at this cool site I've just found. I've just won $1000 worth of skins on it" etc... There were various flat-out denials of any financial ties to the companies despite some streamers actually being company owners.
It gets worse...
The casino table games (roulette etc) were operated using "provably fair" systems. Instead of using random number generators, all of the rolls were pre-determined.
And worse...
The video streamers had access to the pre-determined dice rolls and would bet big on camera to show big wins whilst encouraging others to sign up to their site.
All that aside, is anyone else betting on eSports (using regulated bookies!)? I noticed Betfair opened up some eSports markets for a day or two again this week but I don't think any money was matched.
Still, plenty of money to be made from the bookies who haven't even figured out how to suspend the markets at appropriate times yet! IEM Oakland 2016 final is this weekend and I'll definitely be watching/betting on that if family life allows!