A pair of eSports promoters has pretty much gotten away with shilling for a skin betting site without disclosing their ownership of said site.
On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission released a consent order of a settlement it reached with Trevor Martin (aka TmarTn) and Thomas Cassell (aka ProSyndicate) for using their social media status to promote skin betting on the CSGOLotto site without revealing that they each owned a 42.5% stake in the site.
Over a year ago, an observant eSports fan revealed that Martin and Cassell were posting YouTube videos showing them betting ‘skins’ – virtual goods earned via game play or purchased with cash – on CSGOLotto, while leaving viewers with the impression that the site was something they just happened to stumble across, but gosh golly wow, was it cool.
The pair also paid four- and five-figure sums to other individuals with large YouTube followings to promote CSGOLotto without requiring these YouTubers to disclose that their endorsements were bought and paid for.