Esfix Match Fixing has been activated the rise so much lately that we’ve seen charges Arrests and direct allegations from Organized Crime Links. And in perhaps the clearest signal of how prevalent things are on the ground, a gamer has talked about how much they were offered to fix the problem CSGO Games.
The detail was part of a long report of the ABCs background briefingwho has looked at the rise of match fixing in sport. There are several juicy quotes, including a conversation with one of the Australians banned earlier this year, as well as a comment from the Victoria Police.
For one, it’s hard to overlook the area in which the esports integrity agency is struggling to keep up with the number of corruption cases. “ESIC receives around 100 allegations of match-fixing, fraud and other corruption every day,” the ABC story says.
But this pull quote from the Sports Integrity Commission‘s Stephen Hanna, Global Strategy Director, says:
“We have seen a very significant upswing in all types of match fixing, betting and cheating activities in sports across all titles.”
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That’s to be expected – given that sport is only going online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and people are equally financially affected by this pandemic, you have a breeding ground for shady behavior.
Just as interesting, however, is one Australian’s answer CS: GO Player banned earlier this year. Joshua “JHD” Hough-Devine was caught in the wave of players caught betting on their own gamesand he spoke about the situation in the file with the ABC.
Together with the statement that he likes to win against players, “that speaks a [lot] of shit “- what, fair, who not – Hough-Devine also offered this information:
“I’ve been offered to throw two thousand dollars a match, but I just won’t take it because it’s just not what I’m about,” said Hough-Devine.
Hough-Devine wasn’t one of Australia’s top players – while his Rooster 2 team was sure to compete in top Australian online competitions, he and his bird were named CS: GO The team didn’t take part in top major events or anything.
The fact that someone would offer him a few thousand to effectively manipulate subordinate Australians CS: GO Matches are a serious problem. For one thing, there’s very little money going on in Australian sport – just ask the league Community. A couple of Australians CS: GO Teams can play full-time, but everyone else does it on an amateur basis. And in an environment where those players, often younger Australians juggling college, part-time or casual work, would likely be affected by the coronavirus and the restrictions, a little extra cash on the side can be very tempting.
And to their credit, the Victoria Police are thinking along the same lines. Detective Superintendent Stephen White told Background Briefing that leagues and tournaments are not doing enough to educate players and teams on how to deal with all of this.
“Due to a lack of training from leagues, tournaments or game publishers, players may be unaware of the rules for betting on esports or even detecting or reporting the approach to match fixing,” said Detective Superintendent White.
If you read the Hough-Devine quote above, it seems pretty accurate.
The whole ABC article is pretty insightful, if only because it shows how exposed Australia is to this type of corruption. Australians love video games, we love competition, and we love to bet. And when you consider what the coronavirus has done to gaming habits, how it boosted esports competition and trapped a whole lot of people inside, you have to imagine match-fixing only getting worse. Especially when the only integrity slider in the scene doesn’t have enough resources.
This post originally appeared on Kotaku Australia.
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