When Jason first heard about CS:GO gambling, he was intrigued. He’d played the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for years and had never considered the possibility of betting on outcomes of matches. But, as he delved deeper into the world of CS:GO gambling, he found himself sucked in by the thrill of it all.

Jason recalled the first time he placed a bet on a CS:GO match. He was sitting in his living room, staring at his computer screen as two teams of heavily-armed virtual soldiers faced off against each other. He had a few bucks to spare, so he decided to place a small wager on the team he thought would win.

As the match progressed, Jason found himself on the edge of his seat, cheering and jeering with each round. He was so caught up in the action that he barely noticed when his team emerged victorious. When the match ended and he checked his account, he saw that he’d won a decent sum of money. He immediately re-bet and went on his first gambling bender, which went on for hours and resulted in a total loss.

“You lost it all?” I asked. “And, you went back later?”

“The never next day.” He said. “I was hooked.”

I could only imagine how Jason felt that first night, but I understood how he looked now after years of hardcore gambling; losing and winning thousands of dollars in daily play. A shaggy haired younger millennial with a faraway stare that looked beyond me when he was lost in memory. His were over my shoulder on the wall behind me which was empty except for a small succulent on a floating shelf. Our video chat proved he was not boring like me, as his room featured colorful LED lights, and a bookshelf with several Pokémon and a collection of Brandon Sanderson novels. He wore a Versace zip up hoodie over a Mario Kart t shirt, ripped jeans that looked expensive, and a Rolex too. All of which were odd accessories to the Mario Kart t shirt pulled from the shelves of Walmart or more likely Game Stop.

“Did you ever gamble before?” I asked him.

“Never once.” He said. “I just turned eighteen earlier that week.”

Jason started spending more and more time on CS:GO gambling sites studying teams and players and placing bets on matches. He even joined a Discord group of like-minded CS:GO enthusiasts who would gather to discuss the latest matches and share tips on how to maximize their winnings.

He found himself rolling dice to win skins on Rollbit.com. He liked that better. CS:GO dice games hooked Jason on entry, or rather the alluring spinning wheel of virtual weapons, gleaming and tempting like a buffet of shiny objects replaced betting on matches. It’s no wonder he would go on to become a prolific slot player, wagering as much as $100,000 in one incredible week he says. In his CS:GO days, he freaked out over $5,000, but today he makes singular $5,000 bets on Bonus Buys and Blackjack hands on Rollbit.

As Jason delved deeper into the world of CS:GO gambling, he started to realize that there was a dark side to it all. He began to see the way that these websites were designed to keep players like him hooked, constantly tempting them with the promise of big payouts and flashy bonuses. He was losing.

He claims the websites rigged the odds in their favor, ensuring that the house always came out on top. Nearly all CS:GO sites have tools on the site that prove the challenges are provably fair; however, the RTO is enough that the house has an obvious advantage. It operates under the same principle that traditional slot machines do. I am not saying that Jason is wrong in his assessment because some of the sites he used back then no longer exist today. Today’s CS:GO sites appear compliant with regulations and provably fair in their randomness. Despite this, Jason speaks in a conspiratorial whisper and goes on for a while about how the casinos know how much a player will spend and manipulate the games to prevent them from cash out. He started to see the way that many players would get caught up in the thrill of the game and end up losing more money than they could afford.

            “It was a harsh lesson to learn,” he admits. “But, it helped me to understand CS:GO gambling is not a harmless pastime. It’s a serious addiction that can have real-life consequences for the people who get caught up in it.”

“But, you kept playing.” I said.

It doesn’t feel like a game, so playing didn’t feel like the right word but I used it anyway. It is gambling and risk. It is luck, and rarely it is odds or strategy. I could understand the pull to keep playing, to not cut one’s losses, to do the degenerate chasing down wins that gamblers warn each other about, but no one really follows their own advice.  

“Even though I’d seen the darker side of CS:GO gambling, I can’t deny it was a lot of fun. I met a lot of great people through my involvement in the scene, and I had some truly exciting experiences.”

In the end, Jason’s experiences with CS:GO gambling have been a bit like a rollercoaster ride. It’s been thrilling and exhilarating at times, but it’s also been scary and dangerous. And, like any rollercoaster, it’s something that he’ll probably never be able to fully give up. Today, he only sometimes bets on Counter Strike matches. Instead, Jason spends hours using Litecoin to gamble on crypto gambling sites, specifically Rollbit.com.

“It kind of just blew up overnight,” he said of crypto gambling. “Everyone doing CS:GO just naturally migrated to Stake and we were already familiar with Rollbit, so it made sense to just start throwing it in slots. I use Rollbit the most.”

Jason reports that Rollbit seemed to become a casino overnight even though the site had advertised and issued whitepapers explaining the transition long before it happened. There was buzz, but no one really believed it would take the place of skin gambling. The site’s flashy design and the promise of quick and easy winnings had Jason experimenting with slots early-on to the chagrin of his Discord group, people he refers to as purists but who weren’t purists at all because they all eventually embraced casino gambling.

“Eventually everyone started playing the casino games,” said Jason. “But those purists prefer Rollbit originals, so they’re still sort of purists.”

Rollbit originals, such as Rollercoaster and X-Roulette, have provable fairness and a greater RTO (return to player) than most slots, so those purists may be onto something. Jason considered this and shrugged. He is the richest among those remaining, so it really didn’t matter to him what was the safer bet because he made his wealth through taking increasingly risky bets. He’s not alone, streamers representing the various crypto casinos, such as Ayezee and Codeman, are making a fortune doing similar except Jason doesn’t stream.

He doesn’t have to. He got in early and made a lot of money and can afford to gamble behind the scenes. He said he is shy, but he has considered bankrolling someone else to work in front of the camera and act as talent. He understands there’s incredible wealth in representing the casino, as he often refers his wealthy friends to the site and makes a referral commission from their gambling habits. I gingerly raised my hand and with a smirk, I challenged him to consider me for the role of talent.  

“Has to be a man.” He quickly dismissed me.

That’s discriminatory, I think. I mentally say goodbye to the best opportunity I never had. His answer hints at a side of Jason I hadn’t previously considered. I asked him why a man is better for the job, and he answers without hesitation:

“I promised my wife. She was pregnant when I hit my first jackpot, and the thing about hitting it big is people around you all start wondering when you’re going to leave them, and I’m never going to do that. Gotta respect that my lady has hella jealousy issues.”

I visibly relaxed and reminded myself that people aren’t always what they seem. He had the uniform of a group whose worst members were misogynistic at best or incels at worst. Although I found his agreement with his wife to be immature and unfair, it was coming from a sweet place and not indicative of any bias toward women.  

Jason told me about the high he and his wife felt after the first big win, which was $10,000 on a Sweet Bonanza bonus. Like someone describing the effects of heroin, Jason laments that he’s unlikely to ever feel the way he felt after that first $10,000 win. Later, he would win a jackpot for $34,000 and another for more than $50,000. With his wife and newborn baby to cheer him on, he played all the games on the site, preferring Pragmatic slots to any others. Later, he would come to prefer Hacksaw and then No Limit. Now, he says, it just depends on what’s new, what the chat says is hitting, or what slots he feels owe him because he’s been grinding on them, which is gambler speak for he’s spent a lot of time losing a lot of money and he felt it was time for a payback.

Crypto casinos feel like your own personal casino, with all the excitement and anticipation of a big payout just a roll of the dice away. As Jason continued to play, he said he noticed something unsettling. No matter how much he bet, the odds always seemed to be stacked against him. He stopped winning so much. He would deposit $10,000 and only win back $2,000, if he was lucky. He started to feel like the house was always one step ahead, that no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t quite seem to come out on top. Plus, he was running low on funds.

He began to spend more and more time on the site, convinced that if he just kept playing, he’d eventually hit a big win. The more he played, the more he lost. It was like a never-ending cycle of hope and disappointment.

Jason reports that he became obsessed with the site, constantly checking his account and referral balance and refreshing the page in hopes of a new game or a better payout. It was the familiar siren song of a seasoned, maybe overcooked, gambler. He was burning through his winnings.

“I knew that I was in trouble, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.”

Jason tried to take a step back and look at the situation objectively. He realized that the site’s design and layout were specifically engineered to keep players like him hooked, constantly clicking and betting in hopes of a big payout. He began to see that the odds of winning on Rollbit were not in his favor.

It was a harsh lesson to learn, but it helped him to understand that online gambling is not a harmless pastime. It’s a serious addiction that can have real-life consequences for the people who get caught up in it.

“And, then Bitcoin went to $69,000.” I said.

“And, then, Bitcoin went to $69,000,” Jason confirmed.

Jason would not disclose the exact amount he made when Bitcoin skyrocketed to $69,000 in November 2021, but he admits it was a sizeable amount. Enough to keep his family comfortable and keep him gambling. He says his luck has turned around recently, but that gambling isn’t as much of a priority now as it once was. He said he sets a weekly spend amount, and he doesn’t chase losses anymore. I asked Jason if he had any final parting words for readers, and he said that ultimately it was CS:GO gambling that bankrolled him and gave him his biggest slot machine payday, but online casino gambling hasn’t truly benefited him. It was selling his Bitcoin at the right time that made him rich. I asked him if he had anything he wanted to add, and he did.

“It’s a losing game.” He admits. “You can play it every day for hours at a time and you may still lose. The best piece of advice any degenerate can give you is to set an amount you’re willing to lose and don’t lose more than that. Pull out. And, if you can’t pull or you repeat your depo, you’re an addict, you need help, and you need to quit.”

It’s important to be aware of the risks and to gamble responsibly. And if you do decide to give Rollbit a try, just remember to be aware of the odds and the way the site is designed to keep you hooked. And, most importantly, when to walk away. You can sign up using my link: https://rollbit.com/referral/diva4lisia.