Depending on the fact that eSports activities became extremely popular, many betting websites provide interesting cybersports offers for their users. However, there hides a major drama behind the curtain of fun and joy of getting money for someone playing. And this drama affected either eSports teams and many betting websites. This article is about how CSGO betting could ruin the career of the whole team, and how Valve stood against CSGO betting .
Seeing the dark side of skin betting may make someone think about how horrible it is in CS, and that there is no way to find a safe website to bet. However, that is not true. Betting in CSGO is a common thing now, and even leading teams do advertise different betting and gambling websites.
How did people bet on CSGO matches in the past?
It may be hard to imagine that you could barely find a betting website to place a bet on the match. Even the ones who wanted to bet on some CSGO events, could not find the right platform to do that. Especially young gamers, who wanted to gamble a little, but could not find a suitable resource for betting.
Many websites required age verification, so that, people who were only 16 couldn’t manage it. And then, CSGOLounge appeared. That was something new for all the players.
CSGOLounge provided the way to bet on some games with your skins. You didn’t have to pay with real money. You could just trade some of your useless items to support the favorite team. The odds were just fine, while you could easily withdraw the skins you won.
Even more, the website provided the trading option, where you could find the offers of other players. That made people live on CSGOLounge for a long time. But not everything was that smooth.
iBUYPOWER loss for skins
The major drama started on August 21, 2014. Team iBUYPOWER took part in the minor tournament, CEVO Professional Season 5. They were playing against NetCodeGuides.
Team iBUYPOWER was the favorite in that match. Many people put their bets on them because they were experienced and reliable collective. But for some reason, they did lose the game. The most strange thing about it was the shooting and general actions. The team acted as they’d never played CS:GO before.
After an investigation, Valve found out that the members of Team iBUYPOWER did bet skins against themselves. They were losing for a purpose. Their willingness to win sins led them right to the ban on most of the events.
Unfortunately, iBUYPOWER could not manage that hit and their CSGO squad was never to be seen on the pro-scene again.
The most ironic thing about this whole story is that the iBUYPOWER sticker from ESL One 2014 Katowice increased in price after that, and now it costs more than 28 000 dollars.
But the CSGOLounge became the main target for Valve.
Obstacles for most the gambling websites
Valve never liked the actions of gambling websites. Many of them were just scamming projects, which made an illusion of fair bets, while the others spread the virus of gambling addiction worldwide.
And creators of CSGO decided to fight with them. The first step was the mortal one for a huge number of gambling websites. Valve added temporary bans on just received items. So that, an item traded to the bot had a 7 days ban, which did not allow websites to use it immediately. It killed a huge amount of gambling websites, but Valve did not stop.
The company started attacking the ones who survived. And the CSGOLounge was the one of targets. Valve directly sent letters for companies to stop providing betting services for skins. If they refused, there might be a charge or access denial to all the Steam services. And that killed classic skins betting for a long time.
CSGOLounge stopped working for a long time. That was enough for people to forget about them. Now the website is almost dead. There are no trade offers from real people (they even have to clickbait people to use their trade bots), there is the only option to bet using only real money, but users prefer other betting websites. That was an unequal fight.
What about betting now?
CSGO betting now is different. Of course, you can visit some specialized gambling websites, which may provide not only eSports betting but an opportunity to wager on common sports events.
But CSGO gambling websites started adapting to the rules of Valve. Now, they cannot give users an opportunity to place a bet with their skins. But you can exchange your skin for the website’s skins and place them. This tricky feature is used by CSGORun, for example.
The other option is not to use money or skins on the website at all. Most websites use the coins system. This means, that you are donating to the website, and it gives you coins. And you are free to spend these coins on their website. 500casino, CSGOAtse, CSGOEmpire are the brightest examples.
But these tricks are not bad at all. People still have an opportunity not only to wager on some events but also to play some gambling games without any risks. And it seems like Valve became calmer to betting with their skins.
Worthy websites, to bet on CS activities
If we have to choose the favorites now, we should take a look at this shortlist:
- GGBet. GGBet is the website that is targeted on only betting. There are no casinos, no coins or other currencies, no skins. You are free to bet your real money. The main eSports on the website are Dota 2 and CSGO, but they give you a wide variety of events, which will satisfy the tastes of either experienced and novice gamblers.
- CSGOEmpire. This website is more for gambling. But the number of different events to bet on it is astonishing. However, it doesn’t let you increase your starter balance with the lowest risk. That’s a pity. And the only way to withdraw the coins from the website is by buying skins. No opportunity to have some real money.
- CSGOAtse. This one provides not only gambling but also betting on different eSports activities. You can not only use the Crash game mode to earn coins safely but also bet on either minor and major CSGO events. The feature that will be beloved by most users is the opportunity to withdraw your money with real dollars.
