Coffeezilla Calls Out Valve in Latest CS:GO Gambling Expose
Youtuber and journalist Coffeezilla dove into one of the gaming world's most complex rabbit holes as he tackles the mysterious world of the Counter-Strike 2 skin trade in a new YouTube series. After examining third-party casino websites and young gamers affected by them, his latest video tackles the skin trade at its source: gaming company Valve, Counter-Strike 2's developer.
Who is Coffeezilla?
Stephen "Coffeezilla" Findiesen is an American independent journalist and content creator. Coffeezilla has over 4 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel, where he posts bite-sized news content and interviews. He is particularly famous for exposing scams and regularly examines pyramid schemes, fraud cases and cryptocurrency. Previously, Coffeezilla has investigated household-name creators including Logan Paul, MrBeast, Andrew Tate and IShowSpeed.
Coffeezilla's most recent series delves into Counter-Strike 2. The game's massive weapon skin feature has developed a sizable external economy including third-party trading websites and online skin-betting casinos. His first video on the subject, titled "I Got Bribed By Casinos, But I Exposed Them Instead," was released on December 18, 2024 and covered the complex lore between the founders of rival skin trading sites CSGORolls and CSGOEmpire. The video received over 550,000 views in just one day and sparked intense conversation in the Counter-Strike esports world.
Coffeezilla followed this post with a sequel on December 22 2024 titled "The Dark Side of Counter-Strike 2." This video, which has since received over 3 million views and 165,000 likes, highlighted Counter-Strike influencers who promote its third-party casinos. In it, Coffeezilla also interviewed several young individuals who were personally affected by Counter-Strike's skin gambling sphere.
Related Article: Coffeezilla Exposes Counter-Strike Gambling in New Video
How Does Counter-Strike 'Gambling' Work?
In the Counter-Strike games, players can open loot boxes known as weapon cases with keys. These cases contain a preselected assortment of possible items including cosmetic accessories, weapons and knife skins. A few rare items with low probability are typically included, creating an artificially scarce market and functioning economy. In addition, rare items can have various levels of wear from Factory New (FN) to Battle-Scarred (BS) and some cosmetics can also have varied color patterns that add to their value.
After a player unboxes a skin, they can sell it for Steam Wallet money or trade it on the Steam Marketplace. To avoid being scammed, many players began using third-party websites that collect a small transaction fee in exchange for providing greater security. Some third-party sites expanded to include betting and gambling options using skins as currency. The Counter-Strike gambling world is alive and well today, though, as Coffeezilla's videos show, it is not without controversy.
Video Summary
Coffeezilla's newest video, released on YouTube on December 26 2024, has already accrued over 1.8 million views as of December 27. It aims to answer one main question: what is Valve's role in the Counter-Strike gambling dilemma?
Counter-Strike's Alleged Underage Gambling
Coffeezilla notes that Valve has been rather laissez-faire in the Counter-Strike gambling world. In a callback to previous parts of the series, he begins his video with a montage of young Counter-Strike players stating the ages they began gambling, ranging from thirteen to fourteen. He also chats with influencers and journalists. One interviewee states, "When I was young, that's the most easily influential age to get people in because I can't go to real casinos to gamble."
Is Valve Aware of Counter-Strike Gambling?
After Coffeezilla establishes that Counter-Strike's underage gambling is a significant issue, he elaborates on his belief that Valve is aware. He states, "Valve has known this was a problem for at least eight years, and for those eight years Valve has done things here and there but they've never seriously tackled offshore gambling issues."
Loot Box History and Mechanics
Coffeezilla dives into Counter-Strike's loot box history, beginning with the Arms Deal update in August 2013. This update kick-started the game's modern-day skin trade and advertised itself as "all the illicit thrills of black market weapons trafficking." Coffeezilla comments on the irony of this description and opens a weapon case to demonstrate the process.
Why Hasn't Valve Cracked Down on Counter-Strike Gambling?
Coffeezilla posits there may be several reasons why Valve has not become more involved in halting unethical Counter-Strike gambling practices. He explains that Counter-Strike has sold an estimated 1.9 billion cases. If each case costs 2.50 USD, cases have earned Valve over 4.9 billion USD. In addition, Coffeezilla points out that even legal Steam Marketplace skin trades are profitable to Valve since the development company owns the platform and receives a cut.
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Is Counter-Strike Gambling Really Gambling?
Despite all the controversy, Coffeezilla explains that Valve insists Counter-Strike weapon cases are not a gambling mechanic. This is due to a legal loophole: players technically cannot cash out the weapon skins directly in-game, so they are 'not worth real money.'
Since Counter-Strike 2's weapon cases are not technically classified as gambling items, individuals of any age can open loot boxes without showing any form of ID. Coffeezilla compares this to Japan's Pachinko parlors, where participants don't have age restrictions and receive small silver balls to cash in instead of direct cash.
Most Counter-Strike gambling websites also utilize these legal technicalities, with some claiming they are ethical since users can only cash out in skins. Coffeezilla explains, "Everyone in the story, from casinos to Valve, is using legal loopholes."
Is Valve Taking Steps to Stop Counter-Strike Gambling?
Coffeezilla notes that Valve sent cease-and-desist statements to several gambling sites in 2016 and announced intentions to crack down on Counter-Strike casinos. However, many of these sites ignored the statements and are still online today as Valve has not followed up. Counter-Strike gambling influencers also maintain large followings, although Twitch banned the practice in 2023. In addition, many Counter-Strike casinos directly sponsor esports teams.
Is Valve Responsible for Counter-Strike Gambling?
In Coffeezilla's video, he explains that the Washington State Gambling Commission investigated Valve and found that the company "knowingly facilitates the illegal wagering of skins." However, the Commission opted not to pursue a case.
Valve has addressed gambling in past interviews. While the company hires economists and also has access to Steam's overall metrics, they allege they "don't know" how gambling affects their profits and "don't have any data." on it. Gabe Newell, the company's CEO, has stated Steam's information is "widely available."
Coffeezilla notes that Valve "almost immediately" updated weapon case restrictions after protestors appeared at the recent Copenhagen PGL Major. However, he alleges this was merely a signal to casinos to 'keep in line' and primarily in response to bad press.
Coffeezilla believes Valve is "the most equipped" to stop unethical gambling practices:
No matter where you look, in the chain of responsibility from influencers all the way to governments, everything points to them. Valve is easily the most equipped to solve things because they are a single stakeholder. Everywhere else you look, there's coordination problems.
- Coffeezilla
The company did not respond to Coffeezilla's request for comment or interview.
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