The Twitch streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris (35) has been indulging in his new hobby for almost half a year: Opening crate after crate in CS:GO. Steam has now temporarily blocked the account of the streamer.
What is the reason for the block? As announced on July 18, 2023, via Discord, a Steam account belonging to MontanaBlack was blocked. At that time, the account was reportedly holding items worth more than $62,000.
However, just 6 hours later, the block was already lifted again (via Twitter). Nevertheless, the news probably gave the streamer at least a brief scare. Because although it was only a community ban and not the dreaded VAC ban, such a block does have impacts on the account.
What happens with a community ban? Steam users who receive such a ban are excluded from all community features. This includes forums, comments, and the Steam Market.
Users are excluded from trading. The items on the affected account thus effectively become worthless.
Ban may be related to skin gambling
What is behind the ban? Officially, there is no reason known for the temporary block. It could have been a mistakenly issued ban.
However, there are indications that the block could be related to the use of a website for gambling with CS:GO skins.
In May, Valve announced that it would take stricter action against gambling. Any player whose IP address is associated with a third-party skin gambling website could therefore be banned by Steam (via Esports Illustrated).
In particular, the website “CSGORoll” has come under criticism after a competing site leveled accusations against it:
- There are allegations of money laundering
- Many users are reported to be unable to cash out their winnings
At the end of June, Valve took action against 40 traders and allegedly rendered skins worth $2 million worthless.
MontanaBlack is said to have been banned along with “a handful of other accounts related to gambling” (via Twitter). He had used CSGORoll in his streams and likely gamed and traded skins through the site.
This time, the streamer has come out unscathed, but it remains to be seen how the situation will develop further. If Valve is serious about combating gambling, more bans could follow.
Only shortly before, the 35-year-old had announced how much money he had spent on Counter-Strike in just 5 months. MontanaBlack probably didn’t want to know the exact amount, though:
Twitch: MontanaBlack shows how much money he has spent on CS:GO in 5 months and cannot bear to look
