A pair of YouTubers will not face any fines for undisclosed promotion of a Counter-Strike: GO (CS: GO) gambling site they owned, as part of a settlement with the FTC announced this week.
Last May, Trevor “TmarTn” Martin and Thomas “Syndicate” Cassell came under fire for videos promoting CSGO Lotto, a site that lets players gamble using in-game skins as a form of currency. Those videos breathlessly promoted the site with titles like “HOW TO WIN $ 13,000 IN 5 MINUTES” but did not disclose that the site in question was itself owned by the video makers.
Martin and Cassell will not face fines as part of the settlement but have agreed to “clearly and conspicuously disclose any material connections with an endorser or between an endorser and any promoted product or service” in the future. That punishment is barely even a slap on the wrist for what the initial complaint called a “deceptive act or practice” that could mislead and harm consumers.