CS:GO skins are the main target.
The Native American Quinalt Nation located in the state of Washington has filed a lawsuit against Valve, expressing that it “does not have a license to operate, facilitate or otherwise engage in any form of gambling.”
While the Quinalt Nation runs its own casino in Washington which is subject to strict regulatuins froin state and local government, its lawsuits cite that valve which is also based in Washington, has an unjust advantage.
The focal point of the lawsuit appears to be CS:GO skins, which led to the Washington State Gambling Commission ordering Valve to stop the ‘gambling’ of skins through Steam, back in 2016. At the time, a Valve spokesperson made it clear that using Steam to run a gambling business “is not allowed by our API nor our user agreements,” and that it had sent cease and desist letters to over 40 websites. One more lawsuit against Valve over gambling was dropped back in October 2016.
This lawsuit, stamped April 3rd, declares that Valve is “well aware of the skins gambling that goes on, is well aware that skins have real world cash value, which has increased their popularity and value, and actively encourages and facilitates skins gambling.”
The lawsuit is more than 20 pages long. You can read the specifics here on Scribd (via Geekwire.com). Under the section labeled ‘Declaratory Relief’, the lawsuit says the following. “Quinault therefore seeks immediate injunctive and equitable relief to force Valve to stop offering the crate opening online slot machine game, to stop offering the crate opening online slot machine game until the Washington Gaming Commission can examine it to determine if it requires a license, to suspend and/or eliminate one-way trades to take Skins gambling websites’ main source of Skins transfers from occurring, and to take other steps as ordered by this Court to prevent ongoing hard to Quinault and the citizens of Washington from illegal online gambling.” The section marked ‘Prayer for relief’ then mentions “restitution to Plaintiff of all monies wrongfully obtained by Defendant”.
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