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- Hacker exposed Skype logs that seem to show Twitch steamer had undisclosed ownership in CS:GO Shuffle online gambling site
- James “PhantomL0rd” Varga requested that site coder provide him with percentages of rolls to increase his outcomes of winning
- The logs show Varga making a payment of $20,000 to the site coder, amongst others
- Weapon skins are similar to a low-level form of gambling resembling the pre-Internet days of Pokemon and Baseball trading cards
It was just two weeks ago news broke that two YouTubers had failed to disclose their ownership interests in a Counter Strike: Global Offensive online gambling skin. Now comes word that another CS:GO skin owner was allegedly manipulating odds on his respective gambling skin.
A Twitch steamer, James “PhantomL0rd” Varga, recently had his account hacked along with Skype logs between Varga and CS:GO Shuffle’s founder, Duhau Joris.
Richard Lewis of the DailyDot combed through some 1800 messages between Joris and Varga, concluding that Varga does have ownership interest in CS:GO Shuffle and, as if that weren’t damning enough, VG247.com writes that Varga took full advantage of his ownership interest to give himself an edge.
From VG247.com:
He has gambled exclusively with house money taken from the business, that he has also held meetings with other betting sites to discuss methodology, and also that he has asked Joris, the site coder, and/ or losing as he wants to do appropriately for his own personal gain.
The logs show Varga making a payment of $20,000 to Joris amongst others, and during an exchange during a stream with 24k viewers, Varga asks Joris to deposit skins into his account so that he has something to bet with. When Joris gets a little tetchy, Vargs replies, “not wanting to capitalize on a unique moment of massive advertising is silly.”
Online game developer Valve introduced weapon skins to its Counter Strike: Global Offensive product in 2013. Competitive matches helped turn skins from simple collectible items into a currency for gambling. Instead of buying a pack of Pokemon cards or baseball cards in a low-level sort of gambling in the pre-Internet days, individuals can now do the same with weapons. Third party – mostly unregulated - sites quickly popped up and offered the ability to bet skins on games.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
