Trevor “TMartn” Martin, best known for violating FTC regulations by aggressively promoting a Counter-Strike skin gambling site that he didn’t say he owned, has returned to the spotlight alongside today’s release of Call of Duty: WWII – helping publisher Activision market the new game and raise money for veterans.
The Race to Prestige is a long-standing around-the-clock fundraiser that raises thousands of dollars to help connect veterans to jobs and coincides with each year’s Call of Duty release, advertising the new upcoming game with celebrity players while earning money for a great cause.
One of the Race’s founding members is Trevor Martin.
Martin’s career as a Call of Duty YouTuber and streamer was tainted after a 2016 scandal around a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skin gambling site. Along with his friend Tom “ProSyndicate” Cassell, Martin founded and promoted the site CSGOLotto.com, where users could gamble real money in hopes of striking Counter-Strike weapon skin gold.
The rarest of those weapons could be exchanged for a lot of cash (the industry itself was valued in 2015 as high as $US2.3 billion ($3 billion)).
Where Martin ran afoul of the FTC is that he promoted the site to his viewers, without making the key point that he was its co-owner. “We found this new site called CSGO Lotto,” Martin would say, posting videos like “HOW TO WIN $US13,000 ($16,995)” that, a class-action lawsuit later alleged, inspired kids to use the underground gambling site.
Looking forward to having you and the gang here for #TheRace! 24-hours until go time.
— Sledgehammer Games (@SHGames) November 1, 2017
Dev signed replica WW2 helmet pic.twitter.com/5uMtHneVTH
— TmarTn (@TmarTn) November 2, 2017
Their neglect to disclose this serious conflict of interest ran against some Federal Trade Commission regulations. The crazy thing that happened next is that Martin and Cassell got off without even slaps on the wrist.
A Washington court dismissed the class-action lawsuit brought against the YouTuber partners, and in September, the FTC determined that Martin and Cassell had indeed broken the law, but did not require them to pay a fine or even admit wrongdoing.
Since Friday, Martin has been on Twitch livestreaming himself playing Call of Duty: WWII for several consecutive hours alongside other big CoD personalities, all as part of the Activision-hosted Race to Prestige. And although it seems as if Activision will continue working with him, the first-person shooter community seems less willing to forgive him. Twitch chat has been full of pithy one-liners referring to the CSGO Lotto scandal. Many were quickly deleted by chat moderators, but several more slipped through.
Reached for comment regarding this issue, Activision said via email that Martin is a “founding member” of the Race to Prestige who has “helped to support the Endowment’s cause,” but did not comment specifically on the CSGO Lotto decision. He still boasts 2.5 million YouTube subscribers.
Comments
13 responses to “Despite Controversy, Counter-Strike Gambling Guy Still Officially Repping Call Of Duty”
Pewdiepie is approaching 58 million subscribers.
Jontron is still posting videos (as irregularly as ever) and despite March has continued to see growth.
Now, this guy seems to be thriving in spite of that whole thing.
I guess this is a side effect of our information-overload culture. You fuck up, you get a week in the naughty corner and then your sins are completely forgotten about.
Or it completely destroys your career and personal life. Seems to be either or…
The real technique is working out how much of a masochist you are willing to be in order to maintain a social media account.
Nah, the key is to not commit sexual assault. You can be the biggest asshole bigot, but as long as you don’t commit sexual assault you’ll be okay.
True. Let’s not forget Justine Sacco…
Fine difference between Twitter and Youtube though…
I find the legions of watchers on a youtube tend to hold more personal bias and much more forgiving than the random numbers of “faceless” people who follow on other social media.
If anything this basically shows that hitting a certain milestone of watchers/subscribers and you can pretty much bounce from most scandals.
I think another thing as that the guys mentioned above would generally have very young audiences. Kids are more likely to let their idols get away with things.
Also a valid point!
this fkn guy. ugh…
Activision, presented with the choice between ethical behaviour and money, chose money. Depressing but totally unsurprising. I mean, c’mon, it’s ACTIVISION. You know, the company that pioneered the Overwatch loot box system, the company that tied the Call of Duty 4 remaster to pre-orders… and then didn’t even include the full experience, forcing players to re-buy map packs for a 10-year old game…
Yeah absolutely. Depressing but totally unsurprising sums it up perfectly.
While the FTC didnt take these shitheads down. They basically have the FTC watching every move they make for the rest of their lives. The FTC basically told them if they fuck up again they will go full force at them.
The hell?
The issue has been that when the FTC made their case, they didnt want to risk their case that they asked the gambling authorities to back off since they are a Federal Agency.
Latest word was the State Prosecutors were not happy and are making cases, but its alarming they got nabbed for promotion and advertising… when they should if bern curb marched to either Nevada Gaming Commission or a Anti Gambling state for gambling code violations.
In Australia, even if you says its legal lottery… they didnt have Australian permits which is a massive multi million dollar fine and jail time. NOPE Australia government did nothing cause the American Feds are handling it.