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Pair Pleads Guilty To Breaking UK's Gambling Act Via FIFA Site
A YouTube streamer and his business partner have pleaded guilty to charges related to the UK's Gambling Act. The two men ran a web site that served as a conduit for FIFA Ultimate Team gambling, where users could buy and sell in-game currency and use it to place bets beyond the scope of EA's sports game.
Craig Douglas – who streams under the name Nepenthez – and his business partner Dylan Rigby ran afoul of the UK's gambling commission for their site. According to the BBC, Douglas pleaded guilty to charges of being an officer of a firm that provided facilities for gambling without an operating license and for advertising unlawful gambling. Rigby pleaded guilty to two counts related to providing facilities for unlawful gambling and one for advertising unlawful gambling. They have not been sentenced.
Users could visit their site and purchase coins for use in FIFA 17, and also wager those coins on the jackpots of other gambling games – activities that violated the UK's Gambling Act. According to the BBC, the pair are the first to be prosecuted for running a gambling site associated with a video game.
[Source: BBC]
Our Take
It's been interesting to see a whole black market crop up around virtual cards. Never underestimate the appeal of fast-tracking your way to a card collection or finding a way to skim a little off the top along the way.
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