The Esports Integrity Commission banned seven Australian Counter-Strike players for a year, for betting on their matches.

Sports gambling has reached esports. On Friday, seven Australian Counter-Strike players got banned for betting on their games. Some of them also had friends bet on the same games. For gambling, these players received year-long bans. 

Betting on Counter-Strike

Kotaku reports that the Esports Integrity Commission handed out the bans. Moreover, the banned gamers played in Australia’s major Counter-Strike league, the ESEA’s Mountain Dew League. The Kotaku report also notes that authorities can spot match-fixing or betting quickly. Here’s the list of the banned players:

Counter-Strike pros banned for betting on their own matches. https://t.co/avDPpsYBHk pic.twitter.com/yqEXNnwtfC

— Kotaku (@Kotaku) October 26, 2020

•     Stephen Anastasi aka “stvn”
•     Akram Smida aka “ADK”
•     Daryl May aka “Mayker”
•     Corey Browne aka “netik”
•     Damian Simonovic aka “JD/The Real Goat”
•     Carlos Jefferys aka “Rackem”
•     Joshua Hugh-devine aka “jhd”  

Who Are These Players?

Kotaku reports that some of these players are members of high-profile Australian teams. Moreover, these teams usually go through deep tournament runs. For example, Netik won second place in this year’s ESL Australia & NZ CSGO championship. 

Consequences

These scandals give the Australian esports scene a bad name. Sponsors don’t want to get near the scene because of the betting scandals and bans. Moreover, these sponsors would have poured money into the scene. This money would have paid the salaries of everyone in the leagues.

The post 7 Aussie Counter-Strike Players Banned for Betting first appeared on Tekrati and is written by Sam Arnold

The popular multiplayer game Counter-Strike has been an esports staple for several years. Teams from all over the world win big money from Counter-Strike leagues. With those stakes, in esports, cheating gets more likely to occur. 

As it cracks down on CS cheating, the Esports Integrity Commission has banned 37 Counter-Strike coaches. Some of these bans last a few months, while the rest go for up to three years. 

Counter-Strike Coaches Ban

Kotaku reports that the Commission banned the 37 coaches for exploiting a bug that helped their teams win unfairly. The bug occurred in the game’s spectator mode. In this mode, the bug let coaches get everywhere on the map to spy on opponents. They could tell their players where their opponents are and where they are going.

37 Counter-Strike coaches banned for cheating. https://t.co/pLxxNBXLyS pic.twitter.com/eq2FQMU8Qa

— Kotaku (@Kotaku) September 29, 2020

The Commission has banned coaches for this cheating before, but the latest round of bans is more extensive. In the investigation, the Commission scoured through nearly 100,000 demos, adding up to 15 TB of data. 

Cheating in Esports

Despite only getting through 20% of the data, the Commission found enough evidence to ban the 37 coaches. They also banned Aleksandr “zoneR” Bogatiryev, for three years, for cheating 16 times between March and May 2020. The Commission extended the bans of the coaches who got caught earlier in the year.  

Effects on Esports

According to the Commission, the ban helps ensure that Counter-Strike tournaments remain clean and fair among teams and players. The Commission says they will make sure that cheaters get “rehabilitated or removed.”

The post Esports Commission Bans 37 Counter-Strike Coaches for Cheating first appeared on Tekrati and is written by Irene Hawkins