Prominent Counter-Strike Youtubers, Trevor Martin (TmarTn) and Tom Cassell (ProSyndicate), have become the recent hot topic of scandal and controversy in the gaming community after they were revealed to be founding members of the popular skin gambling website, CSGO Lotto.
The story began months ago when the YouTubers started promoting their gambling site on their respective channels without disclosing that they were actually the owners. The videos show the pair winning tens of thousands of dollars worth of gun skins that can be exchanged for digital currency on the Steam marketplace. This scandal made the users of CSGO Lotto feel cheated out of their money, or potential winnings, for entertainment value because they believe that either of the personalities could have rigged the results.
After h3h3 Productions and HonorTheCall brought the controversial information to the surface, both Martin and Cassell have set their CSGO betting videos to private and access to CSGO Lotto has been flagged by Valve, though it can be bypassed.
While Martin protested his innocence by claiming he’s always disclosed that his YouTube videos were sponsered, Cassell has voiced his opinions on Twitter and has apologized for not being clear of his involvement with the site and misleading it’s users.
I've always disclosed that my CSGO videos were sponsored & even asked a YouTube employee if anything more was needed & they said it wasn't.
— Tom (@Syndicate) July 4, 2016
I do however stand very firmly behind the fact that @CSGOLotto has never & will never scam/steal from players.
— Tom (@Syndicate) July 4, 2016
Despite the claims that the two users disclosed enough information about CS:GO Lotto, there still may be an impending lawsuit from YouTube on breaking parts of their contract’s sponsorship clauses.
CS:GO gambling has been on the rise in recent years and has almost become a $3 billion industry, reported in a feature by Bloomberg. The marketplace has no age restriction on who can participate and Valve has found a loophole from being accused as a gambling site by not assigning any of the skins with a set dollar value. Skin values are assigned by the third-party marketplaces and gambling sites, like CS:GO Lotto, who distribute the digital items.