The internet service in question did not get what it wanted, but ended up being the subject of the video itself.
The big money moves in Counter-Strike skins and related sites. The abbreviation CS:GO refers to the old Global Offensive version of the game, but nowadays Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) is already being played. Illustration picture. Adobe Stock / AOP
- Gambling service CSGOEmpire asked a YouTuber for a “reveal video” about a competitor.
- The Finnish owner of the site allegedly harasses his competitor in various ways.
- The services in question are also used by children and young people.
Tubettaja Coffeezilla is known for his videos, in which he reveals the hidden nasty sides of various projects and products. He has published videos about, for example, crypto scams and suspicious projects of other YouTubers.
Coffeezilla latest video has been published on December 18. Its name reads in Finnish “Casinos bribed me, but I exposed them instead”.
The video is especially interesting from a Finnish point of view. It deals with a Finnish millionaire Ossi Ketola or Monarchia – as well as how he has allegedly treated his competitor operating in the same field and his partner.
The story continues below the video.
Big money is moving
Born in 1997, Ketola ylsi Financial news to the list of the highest earners under the age of 30 in 2019. Ilta-Sanomat reported last month that Ketola also won around 2.82 million euros in a poker tournament organized in Monaco.
Since 2016, Ketola has piloted the CSGOEmpire website, where users can bet on the “skins” of the Counter-Strike game.
Word skin refers to the different appearances of the game character and his weapons, some of which can be very valuable. The one who reported on Coffeezilla’s video Sports Illustrated says that a very rare skin can be sold with a price tag of up to two million dollars.
Counter-Strike is only intended for people over 18 to play. However, the truth is that it also has plenty of younger players. Also, some of the users of skin gambling sites are actually minors.
CSGOEmpire is not the only site that offers the same services. It competes with, for example, CSGORoll, which is run by the name brand Killian.
Ketola and Killian have been partners in the past, but they parted ways in contentious ways.
Suspicious offer
Someone from CSGOEmpire sent an email to Coffeezilla requesting that Coffeezilla make a “reveal video” about CSGORoll.
Ketola has claimed in the videos he published himself that CSGORoll’s operation is based on cheating its users and thus also minors. Apparently, this point of view was also needed in the barking video.
As a reward for the video, Coffeezilla would have been paid $20,000.
However, Coffeezilla was not interested in the offer because it wanted to maintain its journalistic independence. On the contrary, he began to investigate CSGOEmpire’s own operations.
For his video, he interviewed about 40 people, one of whom was Ketola himself.
Revenge lives on
In Coffeezilla’s video, Ketola says quite openly in one of the video clips that harassing Killian and CSGORoll is also about revenge:
– The beautiful thing about revenge is that there is no limit to it. It can be done at any time. Life is long.
Coffeezilla also approached Killian while examining the mug. The response seen in Killian’s video is that CSGORoll is trying to ignore the barks directed at it. However, this is difficult, because the company is being slandered on the internet in almost every possible way, according to Killian.
Harassment is not only limited to the internet.
At the Counter-Strike tournament held in Denmark in March 2024, a group of people rushed to the stage without permission in the middle of the game. The tournament prize was damaged in the scuffle, and the game had to be stopped for half an hour.
The reason for the incident was apparently that one of the teams participating in the game had previously collaborated with CSGORoll. Ketola had published a video offering a large payment for disrupting the tournament by getting on stage.
“Cute little cult”
In its video, Coffeezilla also interviews a Norwegian streamer named Grimwho has collaborated with Killian. According to Grim, Ketola hired people to distribute thousands of posters and flyers calling for him in Grim’s hometown.
“This man is taking millions from your children,” reads the pamphlets and posters in capital letters next to Grim’s name. Some also show his face, his home and his car.
In addition, according to Grim, Ketola organized a group of people to demonstrate in front of his house. Ketola also allegedly hinted to Grim that the torment would end if Grim abandoned CSGORoll and became a partner of CSGOEmpire.
In the interview with Coffeezilla, Ketola does not deny the things told by Grimi. He justifies his actions by the fact that Grim has earned about six million dollars by marketing CSGORoll’s “cheats”.
Ketola, on the other hand, calls the people he sent to Grim’s house “a cute little cult” in the video.
A sequel is planned
Coffeezilla plans to address skin gambling issues in future videos as well.
Right at the end of the video, several players say that they started gambling with Counter-Strike skins when they were 13 and 14 years old. One says he got the idea after seeing tubers doing the same thing.
So it’s no surprise that the topic of the next video is social media influencers who also encourage minors to gamble with skins.