After releasing content on Mr Beast, Andrew Tate, Logan Paul and more familiar faces, YouTuber and journalist Coffeezilla is back to expose a surprising new ‘scam’. His latest video exposes the dark side of the Counter-Strike gambling industry. Here’s everything we know about Coffeezilla and the video, including a short summary.

Stephen “Coffeezilla” Findeisen is an American YouTuber, journalist and influencer. He is known for interviewing, investigating and exposing various internet personalities for ‘scams’. These scam-exposing videos are typically bite-size content spanning from 5 to 20 minutes. Coffeezilla has over 3.9 million subscribers on YouTube.

It’s no secret among gamers that Counter-Strike has a sizeable gambling industry. In-game cosmetics including skins, knives and stickers have real-world value and can easily be traded on the Steam marketplace. Players usually unlock these items using ‘crate’ loot boxes and keys. The most valuable skins can sell for exorbitant prices — extremely rare items like the Blue Gem Karambit (Case Hardened) can sell for upwards of 2 million USD.

As the Counter-Strike skin trading market grew, many players sought mediation during trades to prevent scams. Third-party websites emerged to ensure each player fulfilled their end of the deal. The game had developed its own small economy, and some of these third-party sites took it to the next level: opportunities emerged for players to gamble and bet their Counter-strike skins.

In his video, Coffeezilla explains that he reportedly received a strange email from a mysterious individual who offered him a 20 thousand USD bounty to cover a story. The email’s sender was representing CSGOEmpire, one of the most popular Counter-strike gambling sites online. They asked Coffeezilla to expose a rival site led by another individual named ‘Killian’.

While Coffeezilla refused the bribe on the basis of journalistic integrity, he was intrigued and decided to investigate further. He published his findings on December 18 2024 in a 24-minute YouTube video titled, “I Got Bribed By Casinos, So I Exposed Them Instead.” As of 9:30 PM EST, the video has received over 550,000 views and over 59,000 likes.

Coffeezilla’s video unravels an ongoing feud between Monarch, the owner of CSGOEmpire, and Killian, the owner of rival site CSGORolls. Monarch and Killian were originally business partners, but their paths severed after Monarch claimed Killian ‘stole his business’.

During his investigations, Coffeezilla finds out that Monarch allegedly has a ‘Wall of Shame’ for partners, supporting streamers and backers of Killian’s site. Monarch elaborates on his desire for vengeance against Killian and his other enemies in a video snippet, saying, “The beautiful thing about revenge is that there are no deadlines. You can do it whenever. Life is long.”

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While Monarch’s history with Killian runs deep, the entrepreneur claims there is another reason for his feelings: Monarch alleges that CSGORolls engages in unethical gambling practices which put underage gamers at risk and expose its users to scams.

Coffeezilla interviews a streamer named Grim, who is famous for Counter-strike gambling content. Grim is partnered with Killian’s CSGORolls site and is on Monarch’s ‘Wall of Shame’. In his interview with Coffeezilla, he explains how the CSGOEmpire owner has caused disruption in his life on several occasions. Monarch allegedly plastered the streamer’s Norweigan town with about 30,000 flyers “everywhere, high schools, malls, people’s cars.” The flyers alleged that Grim was scamming vulnerable children in the city through his CSGORolls partnership.

Monarch confirmed his feelings about Grim to Coffeezilla, saying “he’s made at least 6 million dollars from blatantly promoting these scams.” He confirmed that “We gave his whole town flyers that had his face on it.” Grim also alleges that eighteen people associated with Monarch organized outside his house for protest. He also displays messages indicating Monarch allegedly said the harassment would stop if he became a CSGOEmpire partner instead. Monarch confirmed that he sent people to Grim’s house, calling them a “cute little cult.”

Monarch did state that he was allegedly unaware his representative offered Coffeezilla a bounty to cover Killian’s site as a ‘scam.’ He told Coffeezilla “I respect your approach; you’re a great journalist.”

Monarch and Grim both reportedly have “significant security.” Coffeezilla also spoke to an esports journalist who commented that “these people are clearly willing to do anything for money.”

Coffeezilla has confirmed several more videos will follow this one to create a Counter-Strike themed series. He aims to expose “everyone” in the industry, from gambling site CEOs to esports industry personalities to streamers and gamers.

Coffeezilla’s next project will focus on the influencers who promote Counter-Strike gambling and the underage gamers affected by Counter-Strike gambling addictions. He shares interview snippets at the end of the video asking young men what age they started gambling on Counter-strike sites. They answer “13” and “14”. The snippet also features stream highlights from personalities including Dr Disrespect. This video is available on Coffeezilla’s Patreon but will release on YouTube later.

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