In the wake of Valve's decision to shut down websites where CS:GO players can gamble with skins, a panel of online gambling industry experts convened by The Daily Dot says CS:GO fans needn't worry about the long-term impact on the popularity of top CS:GO tournaments.

"Interest in low-mid tier CS:GO matches is likely to decrease. However I don’t see it having much of a negative effect on the premier events," Luke Cotton, a UK gambling industry analyst, told the Dot. "It could spark more interest from regulated bookmakers."

However, Cotton said the cease-and-desist notices Valve sent to 27 sites this week, including CSGOLounge, CSGODiamonds and CSGODouble, are already having an impact on the value of skins in the Steam marketplace. "It hasn’t crashed yet but it has declined around 5 percent to my eye," he said. "The decline is likely to continue, and I expect 'Black Friday' will come on the day at which CSGO Lounge is shut down and we will then see fire sales." According to the Dot, Black Friday in this case refers not to the holiday sale, but to the date in 2011 when the U.S. Justice Department shut down PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Bryce Blum, general counsel for real-money esports betting site Unikrn, was less optimistic about how Valve's decision would impact pro CS:GO viewership, but wasn't willing to make a hard prediction. "It’s reasonable to expect a dip in viewership," he said. "How big of one is hard to say. It ultimately depends on Valve’s enforcement."

Before Valve's cease-and-desist notices were leaked on Tuesday night, Blum wrote in ESPN that Valve's position on gambling sites using its Steam API leaves room for the sites to change their practices and continue operating. Speaking to the Dot, he maintained that skin betting sites may still have some legroom.

"[Valve is] not trying to shut down the sites based on a legal rationale, but instead for violating the API, terms of use, and Steam subscriber agreement — and this is a huge distinction," he said. "The cease-and-desist raises the question of how we’re going to define commercial use, and if the issue is that the sites use bots and automated steam accounts?...Right now, they’re not shutting down the sites because they’re gambling sites."

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Blum also said that CSGO bookkeepers that use skins to take pro match bets — rather than the slot-machine-style gambling sites like CSGODouble and CSGODiamonds — could fall under the regulatory regime that real-money sports betting sites do, so long as skins are legally treated like casino chips or other real-cash-equivalents. If properly regulated, he said, skin betting could even be legal, in jurisdictions where online sports betting is allowed.

"You’d have to treat it responsibly — like it’s real money," he said. "This would include at the very least account verification, geo-blocking jurisdictions where it’s illegal, anti-money-laundering protocols, and flagging suspect betting activity. There’s so much that goes into it."

Cotton disagreed, saying he doesn't see a way skin betting could be legal and regulated, especially in the U.S. where any form of online gambling involving real money is illegal. Even if the sites could change their practices to follow Valve's terms and conditions, they would still rely on the legally shaky argument that skins aren't equivalent to real money, Cotton said. He pointed out that the U.K. Gambling Commission has already found skin betting to be no different than real-money betting, which could set a precedent for courts in other jurisdictions like the U.S.

Chris Grove, another industry analyst who spoke to the Dot, said that what happens next will be dictated by how far Valve is willing to go to shut down skin gambling. "With significant amounts of revenue under threat, are all skin betting sites going to simply comply, or will they seek ways to circumvent the limitations Valve puts in place?" he asked.

Though some of the sites that have received notices, like CSGOBig and Bets.gg, have said they are temporarily ceasing operations until they can comply with Valve's terms, others are "dragging their feet," according to Grove. They may be waiting to see how far Valve will go, or even considering ignoring the notice and continuing to operate illicitly.

"If Valve is fully committed to eradicating skin betting sites, it will be incredibly difficult for any site to operate as openly and at the sort of scale that a CSGO Lounge operates at today," Grove said. "As long as a trading function exists, there will likely be some universe of skin-based gambling sites, but it is almost certain to be a smaller, secretive, underground affair if such operators hope to stay one step ahead of Valve."

Sasha Erfanian is a news editor for theScore esports. Follow him on Twitter, it'll be great for his self-esteem.

Jeff Fraser is a supervising editor for theScore esports.