Valve refutes gambling responsibility claims

In response to a demand from the Washington State Gambling Commission in which eSports provider Valve was required to “explain” itself in terms of accusations that it was aiding online gambling through its marketplace subsidiary Steam (see previous reports), Valve has posted a public denial of any wrongdoing whatsoever.

Our readers will recall Valve warned third party operators to stop using skins on Steam as a vehicle for online gambling and disabled numerous accounts who didn’t heed the call back in July.

The Washington State Gambling Commission subsequently issued a cease-and-desist order against Valve two weeks ago demanding the platform cease the transfer of CS:GO weapon skins through Steam which it alleges link to and facilitate illegal online gambling.

In its response, legal counsel for Valve Liam Lavery, said: “Valve has no business relationship with such gambling sites, and indeed they can come into existence, operate, and go out of existence without Valve’s knowledge.”

Valve’s response further invites the Washington Gambling Commission to join forces with the company in identifying “offending Steam accounts of gambling sites,” and says Valve welcomes the chance for further communication with the Commission if it would like to clarify its legal allegations.

Related and similar