Xenophon wants ‘Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’ and other first-shooter games classified as online gambling

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon wants to make Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 classified as gambling. He will be introducing a bill defining first-person shooter games as online gambling in federal Parliament.

The South Australian senator has said that online first-shooter games that allow players to obtain virtual weapons that can be exchanged for real money should be included in the 2001 Interactive Gambling Act of Australia. He explained to Fairfax Media on Sunday that children are “being groomed for gambling” through first-person shooter games such as Counter-Strike and Dota without their parents knowing about it.

“This is the Wild West of online gambling that is actually targeting kids,” Xenophon said, adding that games that are “full-on gambling” are “incredibly misleading and deceptive.”

In 2013, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive introduced “skins” into the best-selling game. Skins are enhancement items, such as weapons, that can be used as virtual currency in the game and can also be exchanged for real money. The skins can fetch thousands of dollars, depending on their rarity, and can be used in online casino games.

Xenophon’s bill hopes to redefine gambling to include such games. He will suggest regulations that will make it illegal for games to charge for items, setting a minimum age to play. The senator is expected to seek bipartisan support for the bill when federal Parliament opens this month.

The current law states that it is illegal for companies not registered in Australia to allow people to bet on their sites. However, the Australian Federal Police do not prosecute, said Anna Thomas, a senior researcher at the Australian Gambling Research Centre.

Gaming research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming said in June that skin gambling had an annual turnover of US$7.4 billion (AU$9.7 billion). The market, the firm expects, will grow steadily over the next four years.

Valve, Counter-Strike’s game developer, was recently subjected to two separate lawsuits alleging that it has allowed illegal online gambling. Its digital distribution platform, Steam, has then released a statement to explain that Valve does not profit directly from third-party gambling sites that turn in-game items into real world currency.