ESIC Issues Bans to 35 Australians Involved in Esports Match-Fixing

Esports match-fixing continues as ESIC has just issued 35 new bans to offending players from Australia who have been referred to authorities.

ESIC Continues to Investigate Match-Fixers

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) continues to work actively to clear esports from match-fixing and cheating. A new group of Australian players has been targeted in the latest move with 35 individuals cited in a new round of penalties issued by ESIC.

The fines, which mostly pertain to suspension from competitive play, range from 12 to 60 months and have been handed down based on a specific algorithm the organization uses to assess the severity of each issue. The bans will be upheld by all existing and new ESIC members, including BLAST, DreamHack, ESL, WePlay, 247 Leagues, and other entities.

ESIC has reached out to those high-tier parties that are still not a part of the organization’s commitment to eradicating match-fixing and cheating and asked for those non-member parties to apply the penalties, as a failure to do so undermines the overall effort to keep esports clean.

ESIC issues sanctions against 35 players for betting related offences & extends bans for 2 players previously sanctioned in October 2020.

ESIC will continue to investigate further offences in Australia, NA and Europe in cooperation with law enforcement.
(1/2) pic.twitter.com/KgVudv0d9t

— ESIC (@ESIC_Official) January 22, 2021

Australia, a place that takes a dim view of esports cheating, may also seek to open a criminal case against cheaters. The police authorities in the country have already been notified, and there is a precedent of esports players facing prison time already as reported before.

ESIC Monitors Global Esports and Tracks More Offenses

ESIC published the full report of culprits on Twitter, and the offenses varied from betting on their own matches as well as betting against their own team, which is a gross abuse of their position. Speaking on the occasion, ESIC had this to outline in its latest message:

“Cooperation between ESIC and all-tournament organizers in relation to anti-corruption matters are essential in the pursuit of safeguarding esports. We appreciate the proactive efforts of the ESEA in working with us diligently to investigate any indication of malpractice by participants within their events.”

ESIC has cautioned that ancillary staff has also been complacent with abuses and match-fixes. Non-players who were participating in match-fixing acting on inside information have been reported to relevant authorities. ESIC recently opened a probe into the Mountain Dew League (MDL) and found seven offenses.

ESIC continues to investigate offenses in both Europe and North America with the majority of the cases gravitating around Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, one of the best established competitive video gaming titles out there.

Instances of cheating are reported all over the competitive world of video games, with most recently, the former roster of Newbee, a professional Dota 2 team, receiving lifetime bans for fixing games.  One of the reasons why esports match-fixing flies is lack of sufficient interest from community members, but also the lack of enough support from league organizers.

“A previous version of the article incorrectly suggested that BLAST, DreamHack, ESL, WePlay, 247 Leagues were the ones receiving the penalties. In reality, they were the ones upholding the restrictions against the players sanctioned by ESIC. We are sorry.“