If you're involved in the world of CSGO gambling, you're probably familiar with 'Monarch.'
The pseudonymous creator of CSGOEmpire has made a name for himself in the online gambling space—not for the quality of the website he created, but for the online drama he's routinely involved in.
Monarch is known for his eccentric persona. He claims that his mission is to make the CSGO gambling scene "fair, regulated, legal, and transparent." He achieves this by crafting 'exposés' on his rivals, publishing them to his social media accounts, and unleashing a torrent of vitriol on his target.
Monarch's recent behaviour, particularly his targeted harassment of rivals like the owner of CSGORoll, better known as EyE, Grim, and others, paints a picture of a man consumed by personal vendettas rather than a genuine desire for industry improvement.
An alarming incident occurred just last week. Grim, a CSGO Kick streamer, posted a video on Twitter that shows a man—allegedly Monarch—lurking outside of his home, posting flyers through his door.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in his recent disturbing pattern of real-life harassment, which has transcended mere internet trolling.
In 2023, Monarch spearheaded the formation of a self-proclaimed cult, dubbed 'Monarch's Castle,' which aims to discredit anyone who speaks negatively about Monarch or CSGOEmpire.
The cult will happily admit to organised harassment, and their tactics are not only aggressive but also deeply personal. They are so sure in their convictions that they even publish footage of themselves in the act of harassment and intimidation—for example, members of the 'Castle' set up camp at ICE 2024, with a campaign dedicated to discrediting CSGO Roll and its founder Killian.
Monarch also took to Twitter recently to ask Grim if he had "looked out of his window recently?" accompanied by a picture of himself and his cronies wearing masks and camo gear. He admitted to waging a 'psychological war' with 'no limits' against Killian.
Monarch's creation of a fictional character, 'Joopii,' on Twitter, seemingly designed solely for the purpose of harassment, only adds to the troubling nature of his actions. On the night Grim alleges Monarch was lurking outside of his house, this account tweeted: Update: GrimzYoutube decided to leave his house.
The tweet was followed 13 hours later with "Update: Grim is back in the house."
Monarch's behaviour, along with that of his followers who enable and even encourage this kind of harassment—has far transcended the boundaries of healthy competition. His actions are more in line with those of a petulant toddler than a successful business owner.
His rivals are not the only targets of his bad temper. He has admitted to "screaming at" his team for referrals to his website being defaulted after inactivity for 180 days, saying it is "pretty fucking stupid."
Now, the community has grown sick of his incessant comments on social media. His own followers have asked him to take his grievances out in private—stating that it's getting repetitive to see so-called drama on the timeline all the time.
He continues to attempt to justify his behaviour as a crusade against those who are operating unfairly in the industry, such as breaking TOS and scamming users.
His actions are clearly not motivated by a desire to uphold industry standards but by a fear of being overshadowed by his rivals. EyE claimed that "innocent people are being drafted into a blood-fueled personal vendetta," which has not only damaged individual reputations but is serving to tarnish the reputation of an entire industry.
It's clear that the online gambling industry is in dire need of more transparency, particularly in the CSGO space, where regulation is sparse. However, removing the competition is not the way to do this.
Monarch stated that his insider sources told him that Killian is in the process of selling HypeDrop and CSGORoll, with buyers conducting due diligence on the business.
If this is true—Monarch is clearly not doing any of this for the good of the industry, but for his own personal gain. His smear campaign, aggressive scare tactics and harassment have actually functioned to deprive the industry of the healthy competition it needs to grow.
One Twitter user writes: here we go again with the monarch fucking up the entire trade market because he's a spoiled little child.
Monarch is now synonymous not with fair play or better industry standards, but chaos and controversy. In the end, Monarch's reign of terror through which he stifles the competition may help to line his pockets in the short-term, but the long-term consequences for the industry are dire.
By damaging the industry and antagonising the community, his actions have now reached a point where they threaten the very fabric of the industry he claims to champion.
It's time to stop giving this madman a microphone and clamp on someone who is ruining the fun.
