Valve Corporation, a maker of video games is hotly denying the accusations by Washington state that it is involved in skins betting or abetting such practices with its game system.
The company, based in Bellevue, last week sent a three-page letter to the State Gambling Commission that it is not enabling unlicensed third-party gambling sites to use its Steam API to enable online gaming.
So called “skins” are virtual in-game items. The commission has ordered Valve not to allow the transfer of skins. Valve questions the legality of the order.
In its letter Valve wrote: “The commission’s main argument seemed to be, ‘Valve could stop this, so it should.’ We do not want to turn off the Steam services.”
The letter was in response to a letter dated September 27 from the commission to Valve CEO Gabe Newell that threatened search and seizure of gambling-related property.
Valve claims that it does not receive any revenue from this unauthorized use of its Steam services. However its Valve’s Steam platform, has been described as a type of iTunes store for PC gamers.
Illegal gamblers are able use the API to facilitate the transfer of “skins” using Steam Wallet funds, a virtual currency—without the permission of Valve.
Another way is by using Steam authentication, which lets users ID themselves by their Steam credentials only, without giving personal information. This is known as the “OpenID.”
In Valve’s letter it claims, “None of these activities are illegal in Washington or any other jurisdiction, and we do not believe the commission contends to the contrary.”
Valve’s legal counsel Liam Lavery also wrote, “Outside of Steam and, we believe, outside of the United States, certain websites offer gambling propositions. 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.”
However the commission has not asked whether Valve makes money off such activities, it directly asked it to stop the transfer of skins for gambling through Stream.
There are an estimated 100 or more skin gambling sites.
Valve claims not to even be aware of all of the skins gambling sites and points out: “Cleverly designed bots can be indistinguishable from real users performing legitimate trades.”
The action by the commission may also be seen as a way to influence other game developers. If so, it’s working in the case of the game maker CCP, which recently changed its in-game license agreement for the game Eve to prevent items from being bought or sold within the game.
Commission Executive Director David Trujillo said he was disappointed that Valve let the deadline for meeting the commission’s wishes to go by without acting.
