The Esports Integrity Commission announced that the FBI was getting involved in their investigation into match-fixing and player bribes by betting syndicates.
The investigation into bribes and match-fixing in North American CS:GO has been going on for quite a while, already going back to September 2020 when the ESIC announced they are investigating match-fixing in ESEA MDL. When talking about the issue Ian Smith, the commissioner of the ESIC, said they’re investigating players betting on themselves as well as them being bribed to throw their games.
in a new interview ESIC commissioner Ian Smith says the FBI is involved in the NA CS matchfixing situation which is why it’s taking so long. some Valorant teams are about to have open roster slots soon
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) March 31, 2021
Smith went on to appear in an interview conducted by content creator Slash32 where he talked a little more about the investigation and involvement of the FBI. “We are, (at least) to some extent working with law enforcement and the FBI, who only recently have had a sports betting investigative unit within the FBI.” The ESIC is providing them with the necessary help, as their (the FBI’s) investigative unit within the scene is still quite inexperienced.
As always these idiots never take the easy option. You blatantly threw, there’s a trail a blind man could follow. If you’d came clean you’d be banned from ESEA and Valve majors, maybe Valorant for a time. Now this is where we are. Wake the fuck up.
— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) March 31, 2021
According to Smith, we’ll be getting more information on the investigation as well as the results and the players involved somewhere in the upcoming weeks. When it comes to the players, he expects them to be banned for a ‘very long time’, as the evidence against them is supposedly quite clear. “We’re dealing with idiots, basically,” said Smith.
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Image credit: ESIC