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Valve accused of "letting children and adults alike illegally gamble" via loot boxes in New York state lawsuit
(www.rockpapershotgun.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
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These are state laws, not federal.
On top of that, casinos and betting apps and race tracks tend to have their own extra tax rate to pay, which valve is assuredly not currently paying on their illegal gambling revenue.
So would you classify Pokemon/MTG/Yu-Gi-Oh/etc. as illegal gambling as well?
I think technically, yes. However, the one potentially redeeming point those have that these skins do not are that they're actually a functional part of the game.
These skins serve no purpose, and have turned into the same loophole that those Japanese pachinko bars use to get around the gambling laws there - give a useless trinket as a prize and just coincidentally be located next door to a place that will buy certain useless trinkets for absurd amounts of money.
Have you seen MTG players? There's literally a site that tracks card prices like a stock market.
I'll give TCG's one iota of credit. If Hasbro goes bankrupt and shuts down, nobody can stop you and a friend from playing magic with the cards you have.
If Valve shuts down, or shuts down CS2, your and your friend's skins disappear forever and you have no way of playing with them again.