Following the introduction of the Arms Deal update in August 2013, skins formed a virtual economy due to their rarity and other high-value factors that influenced their desirability. Due to this, the creation of a number of skin trading sites enabled by the Steamworks API were created. Some of these sites began to offer gambling functionality, allowing users to bet on the outcome of professional matches with skins. In June and July 2016, two formal lawsuits were filed against these gambling sites and Valve, stating that these encourage underage gambling and undisclosed promotion by some streamers. Valve and turn started to take steps to prevent these sites from using Steamworks for gambling purposes, and several of these sites ceased to operate as a result. In July 2018, Valve disabled the opening of containers in Belgium and the Netherlands after their loot boxes appeared to violate Dutch and Belgian gambling laws.

Global Offensive, like previous games in the Counter-Strike series, is an objective-based, multiplayer first-person shooter. Two opposing teams, known as the Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists, compete in game modes to complete the targets, such as securing a location to plant or defusing a bomb and rescuing or guarding the captives. At the end of each round, players are rewarded based on their individual performance with in-game currency to spend on other weapons or utility in subsequent rounds. Winning rounds rewards more money than losing does, and completing goals such as killing enemies gives cash bonuses. Uncooperative actions, such as killing teammates, results in a penalty.