ESIC to work with Victorian police to fight match-fixing in esports

Esports has been an unlikely but rather consistent source of match-fixing, an offence that usually applies to professional sports. Well, the instances of players cheating in video games for financial gain through sportsbooks have been increasing.

This has prompted the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) to collaborate with the Victoria Police’s Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit (SIIU) and submit real-time betting alerts to law enforcement and help spot and investigate such activity.

Flagging suspicious betting behavior is a common practice in professional sports but it’s only gaining ground in esports. Australia has already been prosecuting match-fixing in esports with the same severity as it does sports match-fixing offenses, incentivizing law enforcement to partner with industry specialists who are able to guide the work of the SIIU and alert it to potentially suspicious activity.

ESIC has been a long-standing not-for-profit independent watchdog in esports, with the commission attempting to elevate standards across all disciplines in video gaming. Esports are now a billion-dollar-plus industry with tournaments that feature millions of dollars of prize money, which has incentivized some parties to exploit the increase in the vertical’s popularity.

Sportsbooks have been similarly keen to introduce a growing number of esports, which has brought around the need to monitor and regulate the sector better. The SIIU has had previous experience with match-fixing offenses in esports, too, making it a strong partner for ESIC as well.

In 2019, the SIIU investigated five people who were charged with a range of offenses pertaining to match-fixing in esports betting. The men are looking at up to 10 years of prison time if found guilty, highlighting how seriously this is taken.

Esports, however, is a global affair, and the penalties are often down to publishers, game developers, tournamentorganizers and seldom – police authorities. In this sense, Australia is moving faster with legislation.

In the meantime, Valve, the publisher and developer of two cornerstone esports games, Dota 2 andCounter-Strike, has had to ban a number of teams and players for offenses across both of these games. However, no legal action has been taken against most of the parties.

Apart from law enforcement, ESIC has been working with individual companies to help it strengthen its reporting capabilities. A recent partnership was signed with GG.Bet, with the commission and the betting operator working together to flag suspicious betting patterns.

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