ESIC reports potential suspicious betting at CS:GO rankings

The Esports Integrity Commission has raised the alert over possible potential match-fixing and suspicious betting at CS:GO CIS regional major rankings.

UK.- The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has flagged concerns over potential match-fixing and suspicious betting by the boss of a team competing in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) CIS regional major rankings (RMR).

ESIC said it had received evidence suggesting that Oleksandr Shyshko, chief executive of the team Project X, had an active esports betting account and had “placed numerous bets on highly suspicious Project X matches”.

The integrity body also said that Shyshko had “made accurate pre-match bets on the outcome of the Virtus Pro v Akuma match in the CIS RMR”.

Some 14 teams in the CIS region signed a statement alleging that Akuma cheated in that competition by obtaining information on their opponents’ positions on the game map.

ESIC has referred the evidence that it collected through its Suspicious Betting Activity Network to CS:GO’s developer, Valve.

ESIC commissioner Ian Smith said: “While ESIC has not undertaken a full investigation into the detail, extent, and validity of any particular instances of match-fixing behaviour and the perpetrators of such behaviour – information on hand would indicate that this is a matter worth investigating further.

“Certainly, if ESIC did have jurisdiction, we would have opened a full investigation based on what we already know. ESIC has therefore referred the evidence available to us to Valve for further consideration.”

Last year, ESIC suspended seven Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) players from the Mountain Dew League (MDL) in Australia. 

It suspended the players for 12 months each for betting on matches. Some players had bet on matches in which they themselves played. 

ESIC denies it works for the esports betting industry

Earlier this year, ESIC rejected a “false narrative” that claims that it works for the esports betting sector.

It denied being  “a servant of the betting industry” after it was claimed that ESIC had given its support to a bill introduced in Nevada’s state senate. The bill aims to create an esports regulatory agency named the Nevada Esports Commission.

ESIC said such claims were false and insisted that it actually opposes Bill 165. It said it was currently outlining its view to the judiciary committee that is reviewing the bill.