New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Valve Corporation (Valve) for illegally promoting gambling through video games popular with children and teenagers.
An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that Valve’s video games, including Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 enable gambling by enticing users to pay for the chance to win a rare virtual item ‘of significant monetary value’.
The lawsuit alleges that Valve enables gambling through these games by charging users to open a virtual container known as a loot box. The randomly selected virtual items have no in-game functionality but can be sold online for money, with one item reportedly being sold for more than $1 million (pictured below).
The lawsuit alleges that Valve has made billions of dollars ‘luring’ its users, many of whom are teenagers or younger, to engage in gambling in the hopes of winning expensive virtual items that they can cash in on. With this lawsuit, Attorney General James seeks to permanently stop Valve from continuing to promote illegal gambling in its games and to pay disgorgement and fines.
“Illegal gambling can be harmful and lead to serious addiction problems, especially for our young people,” said Attorney General James. “Valve has made billions of dollars by letting children and adults alike illegally gamble for the chance to win valuable virtual prizes. These features are addictive, harmful, and illegal, and my office is suing to stop Valve’s illegal conduct and protect New Yorkers.”
Resale values and children
The value of Counter-Strike’s skins has risen significantly in recent years, attracting speculators and investors who viewed these virtual items as potentially lucrative digital assets. A statement from the OAG’s office says that, “In March 2025, it was reported that the market for Counter-Strike skins had surpassed $4.3 billion.” (Source not cited.) The OAG’s investigation asserts that Valve facilitates and even assists third-party marketplaces in their reselling operations.
The same statement says that, “Valve’s loot box model can be especially harmful to children.” Attorney General James believes that young users with limited funds can be enticed to start gambling through loot boxes in the hopes of obtaining a virtual item that they believe will enhance their status in the games’ virtual worlds.
The statement also says that, “Research (Source not cited) has shown that children who are introduced to gambling are four times more likely to develop a gambling problem later in life than those who are not.”
And while they were looking for pearls to clutch, the office couldn’t resist adding that, “Valve’s promotion of games that glorify violence and guns helps fuel the dangerous epidemic of gun violence, particularly among young gamers who can become numbed to grave violence before their brains are fully developed.”
