A number of websites were created to bypass monetary restrictions Valve set on the Steam marketplace to aid in high-value trading and allowing users to receive cash value for skins. Valve added random skin rewards as part of an update to Global Offensive in 2013, believing that players would use these to trade with other players and bolster both the player community and its Steam marketplace. Valve condemns the gambling practices as it violates the platform's terms of service. Valve, the developer of Global Offensive, also runs the Steam marketplace which can be interfaced by third-parties to enable trading, buying, and selling of skins from players' Steam inventories for real-world or digital currency.

It is commonly associated with the community surrounding Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but the practice exists in other games such as Electronic Arts's FIFA.

In video games, skin gambling is the use of virtual goods, often cosmetic in-game items such as ' skins', as virtual currency to bet on the outcome of professional matches or on other games of chance.

Betting of virtual goods via professional matches or other games of chance

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