Machecoul

In the popular online game Counter-Strike:Global Offensive you can obtain rare items known as “skins” that are painted versions of regular items. There are over 450 different skins and they can cost as little as $0.03 to as much as $23,000 dollars! As the game grew lots of people would watch professional teams play each other and bet skins on the teams like real life sports betting. At the same time gambling websites that used the skins as casino tokens were opening up and lots of people played on them. The websites had all of the games that are in regular casinos such as blackjack, poker, roulette and more. It was estimated that over 7.4 billion dollars a year are wagered in these forms of gambling generating millions of dollars in revenue to the websites that promote the gambling. All of this gambling is completely illegal but is in a legal loophole because the skins are indirectly worth money . Because this gambling is online and easy for anyone to access young kids can gamble lots of money and get addicted form a younger age and are using their parents money to gamble. “I'm 12 and just lost $3,000 on a CS: GO gambling website, what do I do?" The destructive force of online gambling is causing children and teens to have unrealistic expectations of money , getting into gambling at a young age and is creating and aiding the market of “skins” that is making these illegal websites millions and also the websites are not regulated allowing for websites to avoid laws. All…