A group of North American professionals from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are under investigation by the FBI, according to the Esports Integrity Commission. ESIC is assisted by law enforcement at several levels to track down offenders who repair matches in the FPS game.
Speaking to YouTuber Slash32 (ta, Kotaku), Ian Smith, ESIC commissioner, said the commission is on the trail of a “relatively small but large group of actors”. These professionals carried out what he would term “classic match-fixing” in North American tournaments, and the level of organization and duration led to the involvement of the FBI.
“To a certain extent, we work with law enforcement and the FBI, which only recently have a sports betting investigative unit within the FBI,” says Smith. “They’re good, but they’re inexperienced, because sports betting was never a big thing in America until recently, so everyone kind of gets their feet on that one. This is for the North American branch of ESEA MDL in particular, where the game of esports is relatively new and laws may vary from state to state, making it even more difficult.
Some 35 Australian brothers were sanctioned in January for breaking ESIC’s betting rules, ranging from a one-year ban to five years, depending on severity. In Australia, match-fixing is illegal and charges are laid against some of the offenders. Smith says we can expect more on this soon.
“I am optimistic that we will be able to release this to the public soon, in the next ten days to two weeks. The betting scandal in Australia where, even though it was a large group of players, there is definitely match-fixing there, and we are working with law enforcement there, that takes a lot longer once you start working with the police, ”he explains. “Fortunately in Australia, these are criminal offenses. So coordinating everything with the police takes a lot more time.
You can watch the full conversation below:
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Operation Fang Premier mode went public this week. Take a look at our sister site The Loadout’s guide to getting your first CS: GO rank, if you’re looking to take your game to the next level.
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