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Duel Casino owner and infamous online personality Ossi Ketola, has caused another round of online drama after being banned on X, formerly Twitter. The Elon Musk-owned platform didn’t provide a reason for the ban, but the platform also took down the @duel account, Ketola’s business handle.

In an announcement made on popular gaming chat app Discord, Ketola, who goes by Monarch online, claimed that “We are under attack.”

He reasons that this comes just as Duel released 100% Return to Player (RTP) games. RTP is the percentage of cash that’s returned on a win. For instance, 95% RTP on a dollar would net you 95 cents.

The statement reads like a lot of those commonly found in online communities associated with Ketola. He mentions that he is “fighting multiple Matrix attacks.” The use of “The Matrix” as a metaphor for larger societal systems has been popularized by online figures such as Andrew Tate and others who encourage their audiences to “break free” from it.

Screenshot of Monarch’s October 2025 Discord post claiming account bans were part of a coordinated “Matrix attack.”

Ketola writes: “We are a threat to their profits. Looks like they have declared war. More updates on the situation later, fighting multiple Matrix attacks.

“Make no mistake, we are at war. Do your part. Sound the alarm. They can take me down, but they can’t take down the mission.

“Traditional crypto casinos WILL lose BILLIONS of dollars due to Duel, I promise you that much. They can keep banning accounts, but they can’t stop all of you from spreading the word.”

Who is Ossi Ketola?

Ossi Ketola is an internet personality who became known for running a Counter-Strike skin gambling site, CSGOEmpire.
He has since gained notoriety for his online behavior, as well as his recent entry into the poker world.

Monarch claims he’s under attack
Screenshot from a Kick livestream showing Monarch typing a message about being “poisoned” and “deplatformed” while addressing viewers.

On a stream on Kick, a platform affiliated with Stake.com, Ketola claimed that someone may have paid to have him banned. In a Notepad message displayed during the broadcast, he wrote:

“///They/// not only poisoned me with COVID and deplatformed me, but also sabotaged my microphone.”
The use of triple slashes (“///They///”) has been associated online with antisemitic symbolism. This phrasing is consistent with controversial language Ketola has used in past online statements.

During the stream, Ketola appears seated in front of the camera and says, “I need to find different solutions. I don’t like being out of Twitter, I need a voice, I need a platform.”
While Ketola’s account was reportedly suspended for violating X’s terms of use, the specific reason for the suspension has not been confirmed. Under Elon Musk’s ownership, X has generally taken a more limited approach to content moderation compared to previous management.

How did Ossi Ketola make his money?

Ketola has made his money through the video game Counter-Strike by providing skin gambling through CSGOEmpire. He also plays poker and is active in the streaming world. However, a good amount of his money now comes from his gambling business, Duel.

From niche online community to the mainstream

Recently, Ketola has broken from the niche online community he has built around himself and breached into the mainstream. His record-breaking poker games, wherein he won a $12.7 million prize at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju. He also lost to poker legend Daniel “Jungleman” Cates in another eye-popping game, where Ketola lost $15 million.

However, he got his start through the video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Succeeded by Counter-Strike 2 in 2023, the game has various skins for weapons and items featured in the game. Using the tools available from developer Valve, which also owns the Steam storefront platform, Counter-Strike now has an economy worth $5 billion.

Ketola introduced CSGOEmpire in 2016, which allows players to gamble with these skins. CSGOEmpire’s X account was also caught up in the ban wave, with Ketola’s main business now without its most prominent social media platform.

Valve recently introduced an update to Counter-Strike 2, which allows players to trade up for rarer items. This has since tanked the game’s economy, wiping out over a billion dollars, leaving it at the $5 billion it is now.

What is Ossi Ketola’s net worth?

Nobody knows exactly how much Ossi Ketola is worth, but it’s safe to say it’s a lot. Some analysts estimate his net worth to be between $25 and $50 million, thanks to huge poker wins such as the $12.7 million hand against Bjorn Li and the $10.99 million match with Alex Foxen.
But it’s not just poker money keeping him afloat. Ketola’s various business ventures reportedly far outweigh his poker earnings, which helps explain how he manages to handle the wild ups and downs of high-stakes games, including more than $17 million in reported losses.

ReadWrite has reached out to X for comment on the bans.
Featured image: Ossi Ketola via Kick

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Boyd Gaming saw revenues reach a massive $1 billion in its third-quarter of the year, with the FanDuel stake sale boosting earnings.
In the third quarter of 2024, the revenues sat at $961.2 million. As for the net income, the third quarter period of this year saw a reported net income of $1.4 billion which equates to $17.81 per share. In 2024, for the same period, the company reported $131.1 million in net income.
In its third quarter results, the company says its net income was impacted by a $1.4 billion after tax gain from the sale of the company’s equity interest in FanDuel, and $65.1 million in non-cash, pretax long-lived asset impairment charges.
In the summer, it was confirmed that Boyd Gaming had completed its agreement to sell its 5% equity share in FanDuel to Flutter. The transaction means that Flutter now has full ownership of the US sports betting brand.
The company still owns 28 gaming properties across ten states.
Boyd Gaming sale of FanDuel holding took place this summer ahead of Q3
The company president and CEO, Keith Smith, explained the figures: “During the third quarter, our Company continued to achieve revenue and Adjusted EBITDAR growth after adjusting for our recent FanDuel transaction.
“These results were driven by year-over-year growth in play from our core customers, improving trends in play from our retail customers, our efficient operations, and our ongoing capital investment program.
“As a result, we saw healthy growth in gaming revenues across all three property operating segments during the quarter. At the same time, we continued our balanced approach to capital allocation, returning $175 million to shareholders during the quarter while maintaining the strongest balance sheet in our Company’s history.
“In all, we are encouraged by the strength of our business and remain well-positioned to continue creating long-term value for our shareholders.”
Boyd Gaming’s adjusted earnings for the third quarter of 2025 were $139.1 million, compared to $139.3 million for the same period in 2024. “Total Adjusted EBITDAR was $321.8 million in the third quarter of 2025, versus $336.6 million in the third quarter of 2024. Results for the third quarter of 2025 reflect lower market-access fees as a result of the FanDuel transaction,” the report states.
Featured Image: Via ‘Boyd Gaming Corporation’ on Facebook
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The CEO of the Gambling Commission speaks out about the shape of the market in Great Britain and questions how they could work with cryptocurrency.
Andrew Rhodes delivered a keynote speech at the International Association of Gaming Regulators on October 20, with a range of talking points discussed. “One of the other things that we’re seeing and it’s been mentioned already and I’d be surprised if it’s not mentioned a lot more, is growth around cryptocurrency,” he said.
At the moment, there are no licensed operators in the UK offering cryptocurrency. The CEO has suggested there’s uncertainty of how it would be licensed, while warning that they know it is “widespread” in the illegal market.
While there may be a feeling of the unknown, Rhodes continued to share how he could see the pressure ‘building’ within Great Britain. “We also know that the demographics under 40 are starting to use cryptocurrencies a lot more, in fact for many crypto assets are more dominant than Fiat currency or Fiat based assets.
“Which means over time there will be a generational cohort who currently, if they are using cryptocurrencies, do not have a space in the legitimate market. And what I personally felt maybe a year or two ago was perhaps a problem that was five years away. I think that is now maybe 12 months, 24 months away as we are seeing this grow.”
Gambling Commission CEO suggests topic of cryptocurrency will have to be discussed sooner rather than later
With the topic of cryptocurrency in the UK gambling space potentially needing decisions to be made sooner rather than later,  the CEO further explains how it could bring some interesting and difficult questions “around how would you even try and work with cryptocurrencies given all the problem we know we have around traceability of funds.”
Later in the speech, Rhodes expressed how gambling is constantly evolving and how the market must keep up too. He touched on the topic of gambling tax, which has been greatly discussed over the last few months in the UK, and shared how an evaluation program is running to evaluate the impact.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
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The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Tribes have lost their sports betting lawsuit against the State of Colorado. As with other tribes across the US, the Ute tribes are concerned about the rise of online sports wagering in their state. However, this time the judge threw the case out.
According to the tribes, sports wagering was not being managed properly. The tribes wanted wagering that happened within their sportsbook and processed on their grounds to be brought under Indian gaming rules. That means not paying the 10% tax that was introduced in 2019 with Proposition DD, when the federal government handed over the responsibility to states on gambling laws.
CPR News reports that the Ute tribes’ case was ultimately tossed from court, as Judge Gordon Gallagher ruled that “gaming occurs where the bettor is located.” As such, even if the Ute tribes run the sportsbook online, regardless of it is processed on their land or not, they are not exempt from taxation.
Judge Gallagher said in the published decision:
“This Court finds that the gaming occurs where the bettor is located — in this context, the location of the bettor is the only determining factor for whether gaming is on Indian land.
“If the bettor is on Indian land, the gaming activity is on Indian land and (the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act) applies. If the bettor is off Indian land, e.g., in Denver, the bettor is not engaged in gaming on Indian land and IGRA does not apply.”
Judge finds tech causes issues with 40-year-old Ute Tribes sports betting law
In a further explanation, Judge Gallagher determined that the nature of the technology advancements has collided with a 40-year-old law that can easily be interpreted wrong. Gallagher adds:
“While not without its definitional hurdles, a retrospective look back to when IGRA was enacted in 1988 shows a simpler technological time when both the gambler and the game, e.g., a roulette wheel, were likely in the same place at the same time.
“If the gambler and roulette wheel were on Indian land, IGRA applied. However, in 2025, a gambler can be in Denver and the electronic game processed through a computer server on Southern Ute Indian Tribe land or Ute Mountain Ute Tribe land. Where then does the gaming occur?”
Featured image: Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Tribes
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