WePlay! Esports made the call on CyberTRAKTOR last Thursday, citing a growing suspicion that “some participants of the series were not playing competitively”. Further investigation from Pushka League analysts confirmed that at least one of the team’s players was intentionally losing games and betting on match results.

��Our esports department and the analysts of WePlay! Pushka League carefully examined the matches and came to the conclusion that CyberTRAKTOR players, with a high degree of probability, made bets on some intermediate results of their matches,�� WePlay! said in a statement.

��CyberTRAKTOR was suspended from participation in WePlay! Pushka League until the end of the investigation.��

CyberTRAKTOR launched their own investigation and found that one of their players, Artur ��Retsu�� Kotsoyev, was involved in match-fixing, which earned him a one-year ban from participating at all WePlay! Esports events, effective until May 2, 2021.

“We understand that CyberTRAKTOR is in complicated circumstances with its Dota 2 roster that is still on probation,” said Anton ��WarLocK�� Tokarev, Esports Lead Esports Manager at WePlay!.

“It��s not easy to commit to such decisions, but we see no other choice if we want to prevent such incidents in the future.”

CyberTRAKTOR representative Evgeny Belozertsev responded by thanking WePlay! for the opportunity to participate in the next season of the league, apologised for the unfortunate incident and assured that his organisation would be “controlling our players during official matches and practice more closely” in future.

On Saturday, it was confirmed that Team Unique would replace CyberTRAKTOR in Division 2 for the inaugural Pushka League season. Since the tournament is already well underway, the Russian squad will enter the tournament with CyberTRAKTOR’s former win-loss record (1-1) and will only play a single match before the playoffs.

Their first and only fixture of the group stage was played on Sunday, where Unique faced Team Empire Hope. Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorohod and co. started strong but ended up losing in a reverse sweep, meaning they will head to the playoffs as the third seed in the CIS group. It also means Unique will have the chance to exact revenge on Empire Hope, the second seed, in the quarter-finals this Friday.

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The match in question was played on Sunday, April 5 in the last week of the Rocket League Oceanic Championship (RLOC) Season 9 regular season, where FURY and Esper met in the final fixture. The result of that clash would not only determine whether or not Esper made the playoffs, it would also have a significant impact on the final standings in the league.

The game kicked off with Team Esper picking up the first two rounds with 3-2 and 6-5 scores respectively, which set them up to seal the series and a spot in the finals. FURY made a comeback, however, picking up a 4-0 win in the third round to end Esper’s chances of advancing to the post-season.

That devastating realisation delivered a huge blow to the Esper players’ morale, who ended up dropping the fourth game 2-5. But it was the fifth and final game of the series where things started to look weird.

From the kickoff, Team Esper avoided the ball entirely and allowed FURY to score an early goal, prompting one of the commentators to question whether Esper were deliberately throwing the match. As if their questionable strategy and lacklustre efforts throughout the match were not suspicious enough, Esper handed FURY their third strike of the game with a blatant own goal that left the commentators and Rocket League fans speechless.

The match ended with FURY winning the map 6-3 and sealing the series at 3-2. That result had devastating effects for the Renegades squad, who would have finished in the top four on map differential had FURY lost.

The incident did not go unnoticed, as viewers and fans immediately lobbied the tournament organisers to start investigating Team Esper’s showings. Shortly after the match ended, Esper announced the departure of delusioN, Frenzyy and Steve “SSteve” Berrospi from their Rocket League roster without adding any further explanation.

“A huge thanks to our Rocket League players for their hard work this season,” read the announcement.

“Our time with them has drawn to a close, and we wish them all the best in the future.”

That news, however, did not stop the investigation, which concluded earlier this week when the RLOC announced that delusioN and Frenzyy had been found guilty of violating the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Player Code of Conduct and had each received a one-year ban from competing in any Rocket League tournament run by Psyonix as well as any tournament in any esports title run by Let’s Play Live (LPL).

“After a thorough investigation, we have determined that Oceanic RLCS players delusioN and Frenzyy (formerly of Team Esper) deliberately compromised competitive integrity in order to lose Game 5 of their team’s series against Team Fury,” announced Let’s Play Live.

“These actions will result in a forfeiture of their prize money for that match and an immediate ban from all Psyonix-operated and/or LPL-operated tournaments until April 7, 2021.”

Team Esper have yet to address the ban of their former players, while it also remains to be seen whether the Australian esports organisation will suffer any punishment for the actions of delusioN and Frenzyy.

A similar incident happened last month in the League of Legends Pro League, where Wang ��WeiYan�� Xiang received a severe punishment for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal. His former team, Rogue Warriors, had to pay a hefty fine of more than US $422,000, which is to date the largest penalty any esports organisation has had to pay.

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In mid-September, news surfaced about six Australian CS:GO players facing charges for throwing matches with the intention of aiding illegal betting activities.

The allegations involved players competing in the Australian ESEA Mountain Dew League, with the accused denying any wrongdoing and claiming their questionable results were merely a by-product of poor gameplay skills.

According to Mark Johnson, a University of Sydney lecturer, the lack of understanding about esports among the wider community has contributed to the spread of corruption in the industry and will continue be a major factor in police��s difficulties in catching the criminals.

“The video game industry is worth more than films and music combined, but they are still not taken seriously,” Johnson said.

Victoria Police believe the allegedly fixed CS:GO matches may have resulted in up to AU $30,000 in wrongfully obtained wealth.

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That might just be the tip of the iceberg, as there could be much higher stakes involved in the yet-uncovered underworld of illegal esports betting.

The CS:GO scandal was Australian police’s first investigation into the esports match-fixing and other criminal activities associated with esports.

The said investigation also sparked a wide-ranging crackdown on Australian esports corruption, which earlier this week unveiled new links to organised crime.

On Tuesday, September 24, it was revealed the Victoria Police’s Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit received new reports of match-fixing, linking the criminal elements to the ownership of unnamed Overwatch esports team that competes in the Australian Contenders league.

Neil Paterson, assistant commissioner of Victoria Police, highlighted the lack of regulation and standards in esports compared to traditional sporting competitions.

“We are seeing people encroach on that area that have reputations that probably shouldn’t be involved in this part of esports,” he said.

While no further details regarding the ongoing investigations have been made public yet, it is believed more cases of illegal esports gambling activity will be unveiled in the near future.

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ESIC��s suspicious betting alert found that Jose Gianmarco ��gianDK�� Durand Cornejo engaged in match-fixing to the detriment of his own team, Thunder Awaken, in a DOTA 2 match. Officials and the player in question both insist this action was taken without the prior knowledge of other members of the team.

The incident took place during a joinDOTA League Season 12 Americas Division 1 match between Thunder Awaken and MORTY.

The crime would have gone unnoticed but for the vigilance of ESIC��s suspicious betting detection system. A partner with ESIC detected evidence of unusual betting patterns during the game and immediately notified the integrity body. The data was then sent to the league organizer, joinDOTA, for further analysis.

ESIC suspended Thunder Awaken before a detailed investigation singled out gianDK, who owned up to the crime and said none of his team members knew of what he did.

“I did this big mistake,” the 22-year-old confessed.

“I acted by myself, and I am actually very sorry to let down my team mates.

“No one else is involved but me. I feel very sorry.”

JoinDOTA has disqualified Thunder Awaken from Season 12 competition and relegated them back to Starter Division. League officials have also handed gianDK a two-year ban from all joinDOTA and Freaks 4U Gaming activities. ESIC has banned the rogue player from all member events, while the Thunder Awaken team has axed him from the roster.

Integrity Commissioner for ESIC, Ian Smith, expressed dismay over the development, adding that the culprit obviously acted on his own and was not influenced in any way to do what he did.

Many in the emerging esports industry have condemned Jose Gianmarco Durand Cornejo for his actions. Meanwhile, some say the ESIC must endeavour to know why he cheated so as to plug the hole in other emerging athletes.

Whatever the case, ESIC��s alert network has proven to be effective in detecting suspicious and irregular betting activities.

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StarCraft and StarCraft II have been plagued by multiple match-fixing scandals in the past. At the start of 2016, Lee Seung Hyun, who is better known by his moniker “Life”, was arrested in Korea in relation to having received payments to throw matches.

Life received a suspended sentence and a fine of seventy million Korean Won, which is equivalent to just over sixty thousand American Dollars.

In late 2015 three other Korean pro gamers who went by the nicknames Gerrard, Yoda, and BBoongBBoong were also arrested because they were conspiring to throw games.

All three of these players were banned for life by KeSPA, the Korean e-Sports Association, and like Life, they all received suspended sentences along with fines.

StarCraft Brood War has also had its share of match-fixing scandals. Ma Jae-Yoon, aka sAviOr, the most dominant StarCraft player of his era, became disgraced after it was revealed in 2010 that he had orchestrated a number of deliberately thrown games.

When you consider how difficult things were for professionals back in the infancy of e-sports, when prize pools were minuscule and even top-tier players were making minimum wage, it is not difficult to understand the temptation to earn easy cash by participating in match-fixing.

Luckily these days prize pools are significantly larger, and it is a lot easier for elite players to make a lot of money, and there is also more sponsorship available.

Still, as e-sports betting proliferates, the risk of match-fixing will grow with it. It is important for the e-sports community to remain vigilant against this corruption and involve the authorities when it occurs.

Why does match fixing occur?

Intrinsically, betting and match-fixing are linked with the most common cause or reason why it occurs being that a player has received a pay-off from a gambler, who is looking to profit from a large wager on an underdog, or a certain event taking place in a game, which is known as spot fixing.

Many traditional sports have been rocked to their core by match-fixing including football, tennis and most notably cricket, which has been plagued by scandal after scandal as players look to cash in on the lucrative bribes game.

You may hear match fixing referred to as game fixing, sports fixing or even hippodroming. This is not to be confused by a team underperforming to achieve a future benefit, like allowing a team to win, to let another team, for instance make the finals and knock out a more worthy competitor. While this is frowned upon, it is not technically illegal.

It is not something that can just occur with players, with team and tournament officials also capable of abusing their power and influencing the outcome of games.

How can esports protect itself?

Because esports is such a young industry it is going to take time to get the right processes in place to make sure every game is above board. As the governing bodies in each country are formed and leagues progress in age, the issue of integrity is undoubtedly going to become more commonplace.

It’s very important that esports organisations take any suspicions of rigged matches seriously and work closely with betting companies, who are as keen as anyone to stamp out match-fixing, and demand they report any suspicious betting patterns. For instance if your reports tell you that two bookies have had huge bets placed on the underdog just hours before a match and they get up in remarkable circumstances we need to be looking into it.

For esports to thrive as a betting platform the issue of integrity must be addressed now because already, in esports’ infancy, people are talking about the opportunities that exist to manipulate and ultimately defeat betting sites.

A first stage to stamping out match fixing should be harsh penalties for anyone caught; while automatic lifetime bans for any officials involved should be mandatory.

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