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tonyPick [soylentnews.org] writes:

The BBC is reporting that two UK YouTube video creators have been charged in relation to online gambling [bbc.co.uk]:

Two men have appeared in court charged with offences under the Gambling Act in what is believed to be the first prosecution involving betting on video games.

Craig Douglas and Dylan Rigby, who are both from Essex, are charged with promoting a lottery and advertising unlawful gambling.

Mr Douglas makes gaming videos on YouTube under the pseudonym Nepenthez.

He is also charged with inviting children to gamble.

There is more coverage on engadget [engadget.com]

The two allegedly used their online presences to push lotteries and "unlawful gambling" in FIFA 16 matches through bets with in-game coins. Douglas is also accused of encouraging underage gambling by refusing to warn viewers that bets were only for people 18 and over.

Both Engadget and PCGamesN highlight that Douglas (Nepenthez) was aware of the issue, but had not seen this as a problem [pcgamesn.com]:

Douglas didn't seem worried about the law back in June 2015, when he replied to a tweet warning him of the dangers of not indicating the site was for people over 18, saying, "Let us worry about that kind of stuff, yeah. Jesus, lmao. Go annoy someone else, somewhere else."

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