Another betting scandal in eSports

The reputation of eSports took another knock this week with the exposure of James “PhantomL0rd” Varga, a YouTuber and Twitch streamer with a combined audience of almost two million, as the undisclosed owner of a skin betting site.

The site in question, CSGO Shuffle, was promoted by Varga in his Youtube and Twitch streams as he bet on the site, according to an expose by eSports reporter Richard Lewis, who was provided with evidence by an anonymous hacker which revealed allegedly discussions between Varga and French web developer Duhau Joris who owns the CSGO Shuffle domain.

These logs show Phantoml0rd apparently discussing ownership with Joris, as well as asking to have skins deposited in his account and for the results of rolls before they happened.

Over the course of their conversations the pair discuss tens of thousands of dollars in checks passing between them. They also argue when Phantoml0rd asks for skins to bet with on stream with Phantoml0rd describing it as “a unique moment of massive advertising.”

In another part of the logs, Phantoml0rd appears to ask for results from the site before they happen in order to manipulate the outcomes for his content.

None of Phantoml0rd’s YouTube videos that feature CSGO Shuffle disclose that he is intimately involved in the enterprise, which could breach FTC guidelines.

This is the second such ownership scandal in recent weeks. Earlier this month, an anonymous YouTuber revealed that Thomas “ProSyndicate” Cassell and Trevor “Tmartn” Martin (who is also a co-owner of Team EnVyUs) were the owners of CSGO Lotto. They also bet on the site in videos without disclosing their relationship.

Lewis has promised further disclosures, potentially exacerbating a situation in which two law suits are already in motion.