ESIC (Esports Integrity Commission) had launched a match-fixing investigation in September earlier this year with MDL (Mountain Dew League) being under the scanner. A month later ESIC handed bans to seven Australian CS:GO players in connection with the match-fixing investigation while stating that there is still more to come.
Addressing the issue veteran esports journalist Richard Lewis recently spoke at length about match-fixing in CS:GO stating that "It's rife guys, I'm not going to lie any more. It's not just China, it's not just Russia, it's here, it's NA, it's Europe, it's Australia, so much more than you think, so much more than we can prove."
RELATED: ESIC Currently Investigating 15 Potential MDL Match-Fixing Instances in CS:GO
In a recent marathon of a stream Richard Lewis addressed the issue of match-fixing in CS:GO, unearthing a lot of information from past and present. Talking about the current professional CS:GO scene Lewis says that “It’s too far gone. Our entire semi-professional scene is compromised.”
He says that a lot of information about match-fixing comes his way as players leak chat logs after getting cut from bets “because they want to make more money”. Talking about the numerous ways players profit from leaking inside information to betters Lewis reveals how information is supplied to them in the first place.
RELATED: ESIC Bans 7 MDL Australia CS:GO Players For Betting Related Offences
Lewis goes on to reveal that some of the players involved in this practice are still around in the scene. Turning towards the tier two scene he says that these days match-fixing is rife at this level because “They know they’re never going to play in a Major, so what’s the punishment?”
Not afraid to lose out on anything the tier-two scene according to Lewis work with organized criminals to “fix entire seasons worth of games. That’s what is going on in your tier two CS.”
Towards the end of this section, he talks about how ESIC is fighting alone against this onslaught of match-fixers who are on a rampant rise. The slack of funds has slowed down their ongoing investigation, while the lack of manpower means that ESIC’s efforts are scattered scare across various investigations.