NBA 2K Leagues disqualifies 6 for gambling violations

When the National Basketball League (NBA) said that it would be making the NBA 2K League a part of its family, it really meant it. But with family comes responsibilities as recent events from the league have shown. The NBA 2K league has made an announcement that it has disqualified six players from the esports tournament for alleged violations pertaining to betting on various games.

Esports betting is gathering momentum in a number of jurisdictions in the United States, and most recently Nevada, and as such, it’s being held to the same ethical and integrity standards as mainstream sports. The six players to have been handed the ban include:

Kimanni "Splashy" Ingram of Jazz Gaming, Zekirri "Zayynoss" Dennis of Mavs Gaming and Christopher "BreadwinnerLA" Lafanette, Dorian "Walkingbucket" Earl Miller and Robert "CantGuardRob" Nastasi, all three of whom played for Blazer5 Gaming. Needless to say, the ban alone is not the worst part.

These players have also brought shame on the organizations that they represented and have questioned the integrity of the NBA 2K League. The NBA 2K League has proven determined in its investigation and has discovered that Blazer5 coach Andrew Maxie and Blazer5 Gaming player Marquis "Randomz"Gill, have decided not to inform the league about the attempted violations of its ethics code.

As such, they have also been disqualified from the league, inflicting a serious blow to Blazer5 Gaming, which has effectively lost its entire team. Commenting on these violations, NBA 2K League President Brendan Donohue said that the integrity of the game will remain an absolute priority for the league and that no infringements of this nature would be treated lightly. He further added:

"We take our obligation to the competition and to our fans incredibly seriously, and we will always act forcefully regarding violations of the rules governing game integrity and the related reporting and cooperation requirements."

Similar offenses across esports are not entirely new. In places such as Australia, police has even gone after esports players and brought them on various charges for match-fixing, equating esports betting cheating to traditional sports which is an established and serious crime. Six people were infamously arrested back in 2019 in the country over a CS:GO esports betting cheating scandal.

Meanwhile, Valve and the Esports Integrity Commission recently wrapped up another investigation into dozens of players and coaches who have made use of "spectator bug" to feed information illegally to their teammates and offer them an unfair advantage.

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