eSports skin betting sites targeted by Russia’s telecom watchdog

Russia’s telecom watchdog is taking a harder look at eSports skin betting sites due to their resemblance to an ‘online casino for children.’

Russia’s hyper-vigilant Roskomnadzor agency recently added several eSports-related domains to its ever expanding online blacklist, including skingames.co, csgo.tm and csgofast.com, all of which offer Russian-language skin betting services to eSports players.

Skin betting sites allow eSports players the opportunity to obtain rare, high-value in-game virtual items (skins) by wagering skins of lesser value on the outcome of eSports matchups, or by engaging in lotteries or casino-style games of chance. Valuable skins can then be sold for real cash via eSports marketplaces such as Valve’s Steam.

Last year saw a wave of eSports developers begin cracking down on third-party sites that facilitated skin betting on popular titles such as CS:GO, while gambling regulators have begun warning skin betting sites that they need to acquire local gambling licenses or face the consequences.