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No, Valve sells scratch-off tickets. Or if you like, they give you the ticket ("case") and sell you the coin to scratch it with ("key"). Same thing. They're no

No, Valve sells scratch-off tickets. Or if you like, they give you the ticket ("case") and sell you the coin to scratch it with ("key"). Same thing. They're not directly involved in the sports betting aspect, but they'd be running an illegal lottery without the fiction that their digital goods have no real world value, which is the same fiction maintained by the betting houses. It stretches credibility to say they aren't very involved.

Rmilb 10y ago
I don't buy "scratch-off ticket" analogy. How are those crates with randomized prizes different from a pack of pokemon cards that are randomized with cards with differing value? They are pretty identical in the terms we are talking about. A failed suite was brought against pokemon in 1999. [http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/24/nyregion/suit-claims-pokemon-is-lottery-not-just-fad.html http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/24/nyregion/suit-claims-pokem...]
- thrubbery 10y ago
  To the extent that there is a liquid secondary market in trading cards, I'm not sure there is a real line between them and retail gambling instruments. But, some things cases have more in common with scratchers than Pokemon booster packs: - They're available instantly in effectively unlimited quantity, as many as you want to buy. - Although technically there are many gradations, the quality label of an item ("Factory new", "battle-scarred", etc.) is incontrovertible and easily verified. - As a digital good, liquidation is extremely low-friction and virtually risk-free. In fact: - You can click a button from within the game itself to see the current market value in USD -- sorry, in "Steam credit" -- and another to immediately offer the item for sale at that price. - Maybe most relevant to this thread, even without liquidating they can be easily used as currency to participate in unregulated online roulette, slots, sports betting and more. So, yeah, there are some differences.
  - cmdrfred 10y ago
    Astute analysis, Valve's proximity to the secondary market seems to be the issue here. They also appear to allow you to generate keys for games that can then be sold[0][1]. This provides you with an indirect way of cashing out your earnings. [0]https://www.g2a.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-steam-cd-key-global.html https://www.g2a.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-steam-cd-k... ($7.23 USD vs Steam price of $19.99 USD) [1]https://www.g2a.com/mass-effect-trilogy-origin-cd-key-global.html https://www.g2a.com/mass-effect-trilogy-origin-cd-key-global... ($13.66 for all 3 Mass Effect games or $34.99 on Steam)
    - ac29 10y ago
      I'm under the impression those "cheap keys" are from other regions where games are sold for cheaper, and can potentially get your account locked.
    - jeeva 10y ago
      They don't allow end-users to generate keys for games - that is restricted to the publishers or game creators (in smaller cases). The keys on those sites are generally sourced from physical copies in cheaper regions (as mentioned in a sibling comment), cheaply sold bundles (Humble Indie Bundle, and other similar sites), and other such sources. You could possibly make an argument for gift-copies of games[0] being resalable, or games that can be added to third party systems (ME2 gives a CD key that can be added to Origin, for example) though the latter would be limited to one attempt per-game per-account. [0]http://www.g2play.net/category/24773/factorio-steam-gift/ http://www.g2play.net/category/24773/factorio-steam-gift/

Rmilb 10y ago

I don't buy "scratch-off ticket" analogy. How are those crates with randomized prizes different from a pack of pokemon cards that are randomized with cards with differing value? They are pretty identical in the terms we are talking about. A failed suite was brought against pokemon in 1999. [http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/24/nyregion/suit-claims-pokemon-is-lottery-not-just-fad.html http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/24/nyregion/suit-claims-pokem...]

thrubbery 10y ago
To the extent that there is a liquid secondary market in trading cards, I'm not sure there is a real line between them and retail gambling instruments. But, some things cases have more in common with scratchers than Pokemon booster packs: - They're available instantly in effectively unlimited quantity, as many as you want to buy. - Although technically there are many gradations, the quality label of an item ("Factory new", "battle-scarred", etc.) is incontrovertible and easily verified. - As a digital good, liquidation is extremely low-friction and virtually risk-free. In fact: - You can click a button from within the game itself to see the current market value in USD -- sorry, in "Steam credit" -- and another to immediately offer the item for sale at that price. - Maybe most relevant to this thread, even without liquidating they can be easily used as currency to participate in unregulated online roulette, slots, sports betting and more. So, yeah, there are some differences.
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  Astute analysis, Valve's proximity to the secondary market seems to be the issue here. They also appear to allow you to generate keys for games that can then be sold[0][1]. This provides you with an indirect way of cashing out your earnings. [0]https://www.g2a.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-steam-cd-key-global.html https://www.g2a.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-steam-cd-k... ($7.23 USD vs Steam price of $19.99 USD) [1]https://www.g2a.com/mass-effect-trilogy-origin-cd-key-global.html https://www.g2a.com/mass-effect-trilogy-origin-cd-key-global... ($13.66 for all 3 Mass Effect games or $34.99 on Steam)
  - ac29 10y ago
    I'm under the impression those "cheap keys" are from other regions where games are sold for cheaper, and can potentially get your account locked.
  - jeeva 10y ago
    They don't allow end-users to generate keys for games - that is restricted to the publishers or game creators (in smaller cases). The keys on those sites are generally sourced from physical copies in cheaper regions (as mentioned in a sibling comment), cheaply sold bundles (Humble Indie Bundle, and other similar sites), and other such sources. You could possibly make an argument for gift-copies of games[0] being resalable, or games that can be added to third party systems (ME2 gives a CD key that can be added to Origin, for example) though the latter would be limited to one attempt per-game per-account. [0]http://www.g2play.net/category/24773/factorio-steam-gift/ http://www.g2play.net/category/24773/factorio-steam-gift/