[FONT="][FONT="]Virtual weapons won in some games can be bought for real money and used like casino chips on online gambling websites[/FONT]
In what could prove a world first, an Australian politician is seeking to have games such as the hugely popular Counter-Strike series defined in law as gambling.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Nick Xenophon, the independent senator for South Australia, on Sunday announced a bid to have multiplayer first-person shooter games defined as gambling in an update to the current Interactive Gambling Act of 2001.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“This is the Wild West of online gambling that is actually targeting kids,” Xenophon told Fairfax Media.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has become one of the world’s most successful first-person shooter games since introducing its “arm deal” update in August 2013, which allowed virtual weapons known as “skins” obtained in the game to be turned into real-world money.[/FONT]
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[FONT="][h=1]Pope Francis tells 'drowsy and dull' children to get off the sofa[/h][/FONT]
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</aside>[FONT="]The skins are assigned a value according to their rarity, but can fetch thousands, and can be bought and sold in the game developer’s own marketplace or third-party sites.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Skins can also be used like casino chips in online games of blackjack and roulette.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The gaming research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimated in June that skin gambling had an annual turnover of as much as $9.74b. Of that figure, 25.8% – nearly $2bn – was on lottery-style jackpot games. Nearly 14% or $1bn was spent on roulette and 5.6% or $414m on flipping coins.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]It also forecast that the market would continue to grow steadily.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The practice of skins gambling is understood to be widespread among young gamers, sparking concern among game developers and academics.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A Brisbane teenager told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he had lost about $1,800 from gambling on skins after having stolen his father’s credit card.[/FONT]
[FONT="]He said he had been inspired by top players who had posted videos of their big wins to YouTube and the video-game streaming platform Twitch.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sally Gainsbury, a senior lecturer at Southern Cross University’s Centre for Gambling Education and Research, told Guardian Australia the prevalence of skins gambling – and the age of those who are participating in it – is difficult to track.[/FONT]
[FONT="]She said there was no doubt the law needed to be updated, but warned that classifying video games as gambling would be “problematic” when many did not fit that definition.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Even Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was in many ways different to similar games – but because the skins had real monetary value, and the game was so accessible to young people, the online gambling market was of real concern, she said.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Erik Johnson, the chief operating officer of Valve Corporation, the developer of Counter-Strike, clarified that the company had “no business relationships with any of these sites” in a statement earlier this month.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]“We have never received any revenue from them. And Steam [Valve’s own marketplace] does not have a system for turning in-game items into real-world currency.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]Valve later ordered 23 sites to stop using its programming instructions and standards to facilitate skins gambling, but many are reported to be continuing to function as normal.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Xenophon told Fairfax the “insidious” games are “morphing into full-on gambling, and that itself is incredibly misleading and deceptive” – and said the current law, the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, was outdated.[/FONT]
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[FONT="][h=1]Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie demand federal reform of gambling laws[/h][/FONT]
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</aside>[FONT="]He said he would seek cross-party support for the bill he intends to introduce to update the legislation next month, when the federal parliament resumes sitting.[/FONT]
[FONT="]It could see the introduction of a minimum age on paying to play, or clear warnings of gambling content to be displayed on games.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Xenophon was unable to comment to Guardian Australia on Sunday, but told AAP that he wanted such sites to include warnings and block links to gambling sites.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“There are lots of unwitting parents out there who don’t realise their kids are being groomed to gamble this way,” he said.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Gainsbury supported an update to the law, pointing to research that shows people who play simulated games are likely to gamble money, and vice versa.[/FONT]
[FONT="]But she said video games were not the most pressing area of concern when existing sanctions on offshore gambling sites were not being acted upon.[/FONT]
[FONT="]She pointed out that though it was illegal for offshore gambling sites to allow people in Australia to bet on their sites, there had been no prosecutions.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I think there’s a lot we need to do with regards to updating the law before we start looking at video games in particular – not that that’s not an important area.”[/FONT]
In what could prove a world first, an Australian politician is seeking to have games such as the hugely popular Counter-Strike series defined in law as gambling.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Nick Xenophon, the independent senator for South Australia, on Sunday announced a bid to have multiplayer first-person shooter games defined as gambling in an update to the current Interactive Gambling Act of 2001.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“This is the Wild West of online gambling that is actually targeting kids,” Xenophon told Fairfax Media.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has become one of the world’s most successful first-person shooter games since introducing its “arm deal” update in August 2013, which allowed virtual weapons known as “skins” obtained in the game to be turned into real-world money.[/FONT]
<aside class="element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded" data-component="rich-link" data-link-name="rich-link-2 | 1" style="float: left; margin: 0.3125rem 1.25rem 0.75rem -10rem; clear: both; width: 13.75rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;">
[FONT="][h=1]Pope Francis tells 'drowsy and dull' children to get off the sofa[/h][/FONT]
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</path></g></svg>
[FONT="]Read more[/FONT]
</aside>[FONT="]The skins are assigned a value according to their rarity, but can fetch thousands, and can be bought and sold in the game developer’s own marketplace or third-party sites.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Skins can also be used like casino chips in online games of blackjack and roulette.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The gaming research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimated in June that skin gambling had an annual turnover of as much as $9.74b. Of that figure, 25.8% – nearly $2bn – was on lottery-style jackpot games. Nearly 14% or $1bn was spent on roulette and 5.6% or $414m on flipping coins.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]It also forecast that the market would continue to grow steadily.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The practice of skins gambling is understood to be widespread among young gamers, sparking concern among game developers and academics.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A Brisbane teenager told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he had lost about $1,800 from gambling on skins after having stolen his father’s credit card.[/FONT]
[FONT="]He said he had been inspired by top players who had posted videos of their big wins to YouTube and the video-game streaming platform Twitch.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sally Gainsbury, a senior lecturer at Southern Cross University’s Centre for Gambling Education and Research, told Guardian Australia the prevalence of skins gambling – and the age of those who are participating in it – is difficult to track.[/FONT]
[FONT="]She said there was no doubt the law needed to be updated, but warned that classifying video games as gambling would be “problematic” when many did not fit that definition.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Even Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was in many ways different to similar games – but because the skins had real monetary value, and the game was so accessible to young people, the online gambling market was of real concern, she said.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Erik Johnson, the chief operating officer of Valve Corporation, the developer of Counter-Strike, clarified that the company had “no business relationships with any of these sites” in a statement earlier this month.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]“We have never received any revenue from them. And Steam [Valve’s own marketplace] does not have a system for turning in-game items into real-world currency.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]Valve later ordered 23 sites to stop using its programming instructions and standards to facilitate skins gambling, but many are reported to be continuing to function as normal.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Xenophon told Fairfax the “insidious” games are “morphing into full-on gambling, and that itself is incredibly misleading and deceptive” – and said the current law, the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, was outdated.[/FONT]
<aside class="element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded" data-component="rich-link" data-link-name="rich-link-2 | 2" style="float: left; margin: 0.3125rem 1.25rem 0.75rem -10rem; clear: both; width: 13.75rem; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;">
[FONT="][h=1]Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie demand federal reform of gambling laws[/h][/FONT]
<svg width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd">
</path></g></svg>
[FONT="]Read more[/FONT]
</aside>[FONT="]He said he would seek cross-party support for the bill he intends to introduce to update the legislation next month, when the federal parliament resumes sitting.[/FONT]
[FONT="]It could see the introduction of a minimum age on paying to play, or clear warnings of gambling content to be displayed on games.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Xenophon was unable to comment to Guardian Australia on Sunday, but told AAP that he wanted such sites to include warnings and block links to gambling sites.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“There are lots of unwitting parents out there who don’t realise their kids are being groomed to gamble this way,” he said.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Gainsbury supported an update to the law, pointing to research that shows people who play simulated games are likely to gamble money, and vice versa.[/FONT]
[FONT="]But she said video games were not the most pressing area of concern when existing sanctions on offshore gambling sites were not being acted upon.[/FONT]
[FONT="]She pointed out that though it was illegal for offshore gambling sites to allow people in Australia to bet on their sites, there had been no prosecutions.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I think there’s a lot we need to do with regards to updating the law before we start looking at video games in particular – not that that’s not an important area.”[/FONT]
