counter-strike-global-offensiveBellevue-based Valve announced this week that it is sending cease-and-desist letters to third-party sites that use the company’s Steam gaming marketplace to facilitate gambling.

The move comes after a gamer from Connecticut filed a lawsuit last month alleging that Valve enabled unregulated online gambling during “Counter Strike: Global Offensive” eSports competitions by allowing gamers to link their accounts to third-party services that provide marketplaces for online betting.

In a blog post, Valve’s Erik Johnson wrote that the company “has no business relationships” with the third-party sites and has not received revenue from them.

“And Steam does not have a system for turning in-game items into real world currency,” he added.

More from Johnson:

These sites have basically pieced together their operations in a two-part fashion. First, they are using the OpenID API as a way for users to prove ownership of their Steam accounts and items. Any other information they obtain about a user’s Steam account is either manually disclosed by the user or obtained from the user’s Steam Community profile (when the user has chosen to make their profile public). Second, they create automated Steam accounts that make the same web calls as individual Steam users.

Using the OpenID API and making the same web calls as Steam users to run a gambling business is not allowed by our API nor our user agreements. We are going to start sending notices to these sites requesting they cease operations through Steam, and further pursue the matter as necessary. Users should probably consider this information as they manage their in-game item inventory and trade activity.

The class-action suit cited services that let players buy and trade textured digital weapons, known as “skins,” for use as collateral in online betting. The plaintiff, Michael John McLeod, identified himself as a “Counter Strike: Global Offensive” player who purchased and gambled skins, knowing that he could ultimately trade them for currency, but ultimately lost.

The complaint alleges that Valve is enabling unregulated online gambling, including wagers by teens, by selling the skins and allowing them to be traded and sold on third-party gambling sites.

Online gambling is illegal in the U.S. but legal in some overseas markets, and companies including Seattle-based Unikrn are enabling legal eSports gambling by focusing internationally.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.