Gambling in the World of Competitive Gaming
by Blaze
For this month's article, I delved deep into the world of unregulated gambling on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league and tournament matches. We will explore multiple aspects of this surprisingly widespread practice and discuss the pros and cons of unregulated gambling on Internet and LAN gaming, as well as what it portends for the future of competitive gaming.
Ethical and Legal Considerations
Two of the biggest issues concerning betting on professional and semi-professional gaming matches are the issues of ethics and legality. Generally speaking, unregulated Internet gambling for currency or financial instruments is illegal in most jurisdictions, be it in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, or elsewhere in the world. Even in jurisdictions where it is legal, there is usually an age restriction requiring that gamblers be at least 18 or 21 years of age. In most jurisdictions, however, CS:GO items do not fall into that category since they have no actual cash value or equivalent.
Since the largest site that allows wagering on CS:GO matches doesn't verify the ages of bettors, the ethical implications may overshadow the legal ones. For starters, on the largest website where CS:GO skins can be wagered and won or lost, the winnings the bettors claim come directly from the losing bettors. Is it ethical to take from minors or underage bettors? Is it any defense that if one website didn't exist to take bets, another would certainly have sprung up?
Another ethical consideration is that of players and/or teams "throwing", or intentionally losing, matches. In the semi-professional scene, there is little money to be earned or fame to be gained by winning. In lieu of winning honestly for little money, some players and teams choose to wager as much as
$240 US in skins per person for a large payoff. When you consider that in smaller leagues, matches often earn $1,000 US or less in winnings (divided among the entire organization), the temptation to wager $200 US or more on the 3:1 underdog you are competing against is clearly there. In place of a prize of $200 US or less for a player, that player can wager $240 US and collect well over $700 US in CS:GO items.
This is not just a hypothetical situation. The CS:GO competitive scene has been hit with a number of betting scandals, with some involving throwing matches and others involving wagering on a game that had already been played ahead of time and broadcast as a replay. For example, check out
this article on HLTV.org detailing how Polish team ALSEN was caught throwing a series against a huge underdog and attempting to reap a huge payday in the process.
Another scandal was uncovered in May of 2014, when players from LDLC and Virtus.pro wagered on a prerecorded match between the two teams in an attempt to win items from unsuspecting bettors who were unaware that the outcome of the match had already been decided.
No Small Matter
By my own investigation and estimates, many of the popular matches on the largest betting site will take in more than 200,000 items, with well over 100,000 items on almost all matches posted at least three hours in advance. Generally speaking, these large matches have a minimum of $24,000 US wagered on them. I was able to calculate that minimum because I wagered the $240 US maximum bet on quite a few matches, and it was rare that the odds swayed by even 1%, indicating a
minimum betting pool of $24,000 US, but most likely a lot more.
I wish I could calculate a more accurate figure, but $25,000 US in items wagered on individual matches with no oversight or regulation is a sobering thought. There is no guarantee that the website will always honor bets, and there may be no feasible recourse if the website defaults on winning wagers, is hacked, or otherwise decides not to honor its obligations.
Cheating Death
With all this money on the line, hacking and cheating within the professional scene is even more detrimental to all parties involved. The professional CS:GO scene was rocked in 2014 when numerous well-known, professional players were caught cheating and banned by ESEA and/or Valve.
Below is a partial list of known professionals and semi-professionals banned by Valve and/or ESEA for cheating in CS:GO:
KQLY
Sf
smn
emilio
cLy
Arguably, emilio's was the most humiliating, as he was VAC banned mid-match while professional gaming casters
Anders and
Semmler were calling the match.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFAj_tOjKbg"]Emilio VAC banned mid-match[/ame]
LAN Proven?
Some of the so-called "private hacks" utilized by players such as those above were able to be used even at LAN events, where the fact that players were being directly observed gave spectators and event organizers the false sense of security that cheating would be impossible. Players reportedly needed only to log onto a website or load their Steam Workshop subscriptions to automatically download and install their cheating software.
Implications of Anonymous Wagering and Cheating
The sizable money wagered in the underground gambling scene is tempting to those that would cheat during matches. That makes the gambling even dicier for those who would risk their valuables on a sport such as this one. It also raises the question: when does the wagering website have a duty to its bettors to cancel matches that are suspect?
The current top betting website simply pays out the bets as soon as the league administrators confirm a winner. Even if cheating is later uncovered, the bets have already been paid out and nothing can realistically be done to reverse it. What can or should the website do to mitigate those circumstances?
I've witnessed blatant cheating in a match. I was watching a small league match between two Spanish teams several months ago and saw blatant aimbotting and tracing through walls on both teams. The league, however, did nothing to stop the match or halt it for review, despite hundreds (if not thousands) of spectators pointing it out throughout the match. As soon as the match ended, the league determined the winner without any kind of oversight or review, bets were paid, and (in my opinion) thousands of people were ripped off.
Conclusion
With such large bets and such pervasive, unregulated gambling on CS:GO matches, the temptation to cheat or fix matches is always there. How can we regulate and control the wagering and matches to ensure a legitimate outcome and proper payouts? How do we keep the professionalism and spirit of competition in professional gaming? The future of the entire CS:GO professional scene (and professional gaming in general) is at stake if we can't answer these questions, and that's the biggest gamble of all.
I would like to give special thanks to HLTV.org and YouTube for source material for this article.
Full disclosure: Blaze is a veteran sports bettor who has wagered on CS:GO matches, and also wagers on other professional sports including Major League Baseball and National Football League games. EdgeGamers Organization does not endorse or encourage illegal activity of any kind. Check with your local jurisdiction before engaging in any type of wagering activity.
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