Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

FIFA gaming YouTuber faces huge fine after pleading guilty to gambling charges

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

After pleading guilty to gambling charges concerning his ownership of the FIFA video game-focused gambling site FUT Galaxy, YouTube personality Craig Douglas, known online as “Nepenthez,” has been court-ordered to pay more than 90,000 pounds in fines.

Douglas was first charged with illegally encouraging gambling on the site back in September, a violation of the United Kingdom’s Gambling Act and the first video game-related case concerning the law. He had uploaded videos to his YouTube channel showing him using FUT Galaxy to “win” FIFA Ultimate coins without disclosing that the site was, in fact, his own, and, according to district judge Jack McCarva, he and business partner Dylan Rigby did nothing to discourage children from using it — Douglas even said that the site didn’t require users to be 18 because “this is a virtual currency.”

Recommended Videos

“In my opinion, both of you were aware of the use of the site by children and the attractiveness of it to children. At the very least, you both turned a blind eye to it,” McCarva said.

Three years ago, Douglas sang a much different tune, saying that minors “shouldn’t be gambling” but that doing so is only “on their parents” and not the responsibility of outside influencers.

This isn’t the first time such a controversy has erupted in the YouTube gaming space. Last summer, popular streamers Tom “Syndicate” Cassell and Trevor “TMartn” Martin were caught doing almost the exact same thing via their Counter-Strike: GO gambling website, CSGO Lotto.

Both intentionally misled users into believing that they had simply stumbled upon the site and made several videos showing them “winning” pots of cash. Cassell has remained almost entirely silent on the subject, while Martin made an apology video, since taken down from his own channel, that attempted to minimize his wrongdoing. Neither Cassell nor Martin has been charged with a crime, but Martin is in the middle of a Florida lawsuit regarding CSGO Lotto. You can find a detailed rundown of their situation as well as Douglas’ case over at YouTube channel “HonorTheCall.”

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Topics
Sony’s new PS5 Prism Collection gives a beautiful retro makeover to your console and controller
The new collection lets you peek inside your PS5 and DualSense controller with a glossy transparent design.
sony-prism-collection-ps5

Remember when transparent gadgets were the coolest things you could own? Sony is bringing that late '90s aesthetic back with its new PS5 Prism Collection. The gorgeous lineup gives your DualSense controller and PS5 console a glossy, see-through makeover in three eye-catching colors.

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/2115459064981512662?s=19

Read more
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s Stranded mission had me hooked for hours, yet left me wanting more
I spent hours sneaking through North Korea, scavenging supplies, and clearing outposts, and I’d happily do it all again.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Stranded mission gameplay

For years, Call of Duty’s campaign mode has used big, scripted set pieces to tell the overarching story amid all the adrenaline-pumping action. The 2023 Modern Warfare 3 tried to shake up the established formula by introducing a handful of short open combat missions, and I genuinely liked the idea, but the game's overall negative reception seeped into how those missions were received.

I feared the next iteration might abandon the idea because of the backlash, but I am glad it didn't. MW4’s “Stranded” mission uses the same approach, but instead of fragmenting it across the campaign, it puts it all in a single large-scale open-world mission.

Read more
The $1300 Acer Predator Atlas 8 handheld is finally US-bound, and its pre-orders are already sold out
Acer’s first gaming handheld to launch in the US arrives November 1 with Intel Arc G3 Extreme hardware.
Intel Arc G3 Extreme Hands On with Acer Predator Atlas 8

Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.

Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.

Read more