eSports betting case thrown out by Washington district court

In November last year a group of US teenagers (or their parents) launched litigation against the Valve Corporation, which developed the popular Counter Strike Global Offensive video game used extensively in eSports contests.

The litigants claimed that Valve’s Steam Marketplace and CS:GO supported illegal gambling by allowing Americans to link their accounts to third-party websites alleged to provide illegal gambling based on accessory ‘skins’ transactions (see previous reports).

The case has been rejected by a Washington District Court, which referred it to mandatory arbitration, with the judge pointing out that Valve’s T&Cs included an arbitration agreement that the plaintiffs agreed to upon creating their accounts on the Valve platform.

This provision was conspicuous and each party had an opportunity to understand the terms, the judge found.

Additionally, the plaintiffs (all minors) could not have disaffirmed the contract, as they continued to use Valve’s content and services on Steam.

The Federal Arbitration Act reflects a liberal policy that favours arbitration when agreements to arbitrate are valid, irrevocable and enforceable, the judge ruled, noting that the Act goes so far as to compel arbitration when a valid arbitration agreement exists.

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