Home Gaming eSports betting reaches an all time low

eSports betting reaches an all time low

4 min read
21

Dice

Gambling ruins lives. This is no secret. More specifically, sports gambling, and the recent influx of eSports betting websites such as Dota2Lounge, CSGOLounge, eBets, etc. have created some of the worst humans, if we can call them that, walking among us. It’s not uncommon for people to get upset with teams over a loss which may have cost them a lot of money, but as any gambling addict would tell you “You suck it up, and throw more money at them.” The recent burst of cosmetic skin betting, alongside real money, has reached an all time low and it’s getting out of hand.

The rise of the Lounges

It all began with the rise of Dota 2 when cosmetic items (items which change the appearance of your character) burst into the Dota 2 scene. Not long after Dota2Lounge was born with the premise of creating a comfortable platform for trading your cosmetic items. These cosmetic items, with their variety of rarities, also had a monetary value. This is where the cosmetic skin betting began. Dota2Lounge released their cosmetic skin betting platform soon after , which allowed gamers to place a set amount of skins (four in total) on either team in a matchup.

It was a fun way to wager up the odds, make a few skins and get a small taste of gambling at no real cost. Or so we thought. After Dota2Lounge came CSGOLounge where the same system applied, except it got more real as items were slightly more expensive compared to Dota’s ones This created an extremely hostile and undeniably toxic community fueled by angry teenagers.

dota2lounge

This does shed extremely bad light on not only the human race, but the people over at Dota 2 and CSGO Lounge. The guys who initially launched the project could not have known just how successful they would be, and their influence has been extremely positive. We cannot blame them for the few inhumane bottom dwellers who frequent their website, but the amount of exposure they have brought to smaller eSports nations, South African included, is clouded in comparison.

Why the rant?

From the early stages of eSports cosmetic skins I’ve seen people posting on Organization’s Facebook pages, Tweeting at them and blaming them for losing their money. I always gave it a “you’re an idiot,” and carried on with my day, but last night I saw a video which really upset me.

Jaroslaw “Pasha” Jarzabkowski is a Polish Counter-Strike player for Virtus.Pro. Several months ago, Pasha began streaming his casual games and won the hearts of thousands. His broken English, his quirky catch phrases and of course his massive biceps earned him one of the biggest Twitch followings alongside donations upwards of $20,000.

He has an extremely positive influence on the CSGO community, and is all-round a fantastic CSGO player. His team, Virtus.Pro, have had their ups and down over the past several months and it was one of the downs which lead to this happening on his stream a few days ago. I must warn you, it’s hard to watch.

In case you’re unable to watch it at the best quality, the donation reads: “hope your wife and kid die from cancer and autism for throwing the kinguin match my friend.” Obviously this upset the usually pleasant streamer as the main reason he streams daily is to look after his family. Everyone who follows Pasha knows his family is everything to him, and in this video you can see it, clearly.

The donation is clearly aimed at their performance in a match versus Team Kinguin and their unfortunate loss which led to this inhumane bit of scum losing a few dollars. There is absolutely no place for those who wish harm on others. Even more so, wishing harm on a person you’re donating money to. You may be losing a buck or two, but the performance of these professional teams has a much more adverse effect if they lose. I highly doubt they’d ever do it on purpose.

Freakazoid’s response

Ryan “freakazoid” Abadir had a few words with his viewers after they blamed his team, Cloud9, for losing a match. The video does contain some NSFW (Not Safe For Work) language.

His response, minus the profanity, should be the headline of any betting site. You gamble at your own risk and if you’re in a position and constantly blaming others for your loss, you have a gambling problem. There is a reason why gambling sites and casinos have an age restriction, there is supposed to be a level of responsibility and maturity which come with throwing money away, a restriction which CSGOLounge and Dota2Lounge do not have. That’s an article for another day.

Be responsible, and seek help if you feel you have a problem.

Like esports?
Check out esports central

Last Updated: July 24, 2015

21 Comments

  1. Michael Matusowsky

    July 24, 2015 at 10:07

    That hit me right in the feels, my friend ;_;. Fucking scum.

    Reply

    • WitWolfy

      July 24, 2015 at 10:34

      I hope he finds that douche and tares him a new one.

      Reply

      • Frik van der Hewerskink

        July 24, 2015 at 10:57

        War. War never changes

        Reply

        • WitWolfy

          July 24, 2015 at 10:58

          Yes…

          Reply

  2. Pariah

    July 24, 2015 at 10:07

    Age restrictions help, and people shouldn’t ignore them. But let’s be honest, the eSports fan community isn’t exactly the most civil bunch, no matter their age. Spend a few hours in dota or CSGO and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      July 24, 2015 at 10:09

      I’m not condoning this, for the record. I think there needs to be a lot more in place as repercussions for the deplorable behaviour that is all too common in competitive online gaming.

      Reply

  3. WitWolfy

    July 24, 2015 at 10:18

    And thats why streaming should be a hobby NOT A CAREER!

    Reply

    • CongoKyle

      July 24, 2015 at 10:25

      six figure annual salaries disagree with you.

      Reply

      • WitWolfy

        July 24, 2015 at 10:30

        Thats just one dude and Youtube clicks. The point is these streamers depend on their viewers to make a living.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          July 24, 2015 at 10:38

          Yeah it’s actually very difficult to make it as a streamer. Either you get lucky or you never really earn enough to sustain yourself. I know I’d need crazy amounts of subs and donations to make ends meet every month as a streamer. Even if I’m great, it’s at least a year of hard work before I could think of resigning from my job, IF people sub and donate.

          Reply

    • Guild

      July 24, 2015 at 10:30

      If you can make money out of your hobby then why not? Most people work jobs they despise or would prefer doing something else. I’d be happy if someone paid me to play games.

      Reply

    • Gerhard Davids

      July 24, 2015 at 14:21

      That is a terribly lazy view to take.

      If you for one second think that not every single celebrity, be it sports or otherwise, faces harassment at some point in their careers then you are sorely mistaken and gullible.

      And they do not all just make money directly from viewers, but like most personalities, if you have no following then you have no income. Don’t come here and piss on other peoples hard work and spew your opinion like it’s some common knowledge fact.

      Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    July 24, 2015 at 10:26

    Sport24 has nothing on Esports O_o

    Reply

  5. Lollies the Laughing Lollipop

    July 24, 2015 at 10:38

    I’ve made money on eSports Betting, Local South African Bookie offered BEtting on last years Big Tournament..

    Reply

  6. Lollies the Laughing Lollipop

    July 24, 2015 at 10:48

    Also as someone that works in the Sports Betting Industry here in SA, the Author of this article has left out a very crucial thing.. Gambling on International hosted Websites in South Africa is Highly Illegal, even though some sites like SilverSands allow you to register and play. Many do block SA IP and VPNS work but if caught out.. All Assests will be frozen and jail time will be sentence, because messing with the Goverments Money is a sin.

    Reply

  7. Lollies the Laughing Lollipop

    July 24, 2015 at 10:53

    Just FYI. for those who have issues

    Reply

  8. Deceased

    July 24, 2015 at 11:33

    Talk about eSports and drink whiskey?!

    Who’d have thought you can have class and a complete lack of it in one go XD

    Also, first article I’ve read that was posted by CongoKyle… Welcome Kyle ( I presume ), we do enjoy asshats 😀

    Reply

    • CongoKyle

      July 24, 2015 at 11:37

      Whisky is classy as fk m8, don’t make me fight you.

      Also, thank you 😀

      Reply

      • Deceased

        July 24, 2015 at 11:52

        Wait, no, the whisky is the classy part, the eSports … meh … 😛

        Reply

    • Pariah

      July 24, 2015 at 11:37

      I take it you’re not reading the esports articles. This is like his 5th article. Still so young. He will learn. 😛

      Reply

  9. B4d R0b0t

    July 25, 2015 at 09:21

    Just some context, his wife miscarried & then was very sick leading up the birth of their child. But just so you don’t think its all doom & gloom here is Pasha getting a 15k donation from the famous twitch subscriber motar2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ETFxHy6nkA

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Manchester United Sues Football Manager Over Use of their Name and Fan Mods

Manchester United, that massive global football brand whose fans are as equally annoying a…