Match fixing in Esports – Australia arrested six gamers involved

<p>A few years ago&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;forbes&period;com&sol;sites&sol;mikeozanian&sol;2018&sol;10&sol;23&sol;the-worlds-most-valuable-esports-companies-1&sol;">Esports became a trendy industry<&sol;a>&period; To be more specific&comma; the online video gaming industry is a fast-growing billion-dollar sector with millions of fans&period; There are live events&comma; online streams&comma; and tons of fans who are love tuning in for competitions&period; With that being said&comma; millions of fans and considerable attention from the media make the online gaming industry a billion dollar sector&period; Those crazy numbers don&&num;8217&semi;t even include the insane amounts of funds that are shared on different casinos&period; New Zealand is a great example&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a very small country but the revenues of the online casinos reach millions of dollars each year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Just like Tennis or golf when the most professional players compete with each other for millions of dollars in prizes and fame&comma; the same scenario goes with the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;5-surprising-esports-to-watch-this-2019&sol;">Esports industry<&sol;a>&comma; where we have seen more tournaments than in professional Tennis&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;148977" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-148977" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-148977" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;10&sol;22211551&sol;Match-fixing-in-esports-a-real-problem-BG&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Match fixing has made its way to Esports" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"500" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-148977" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Esports has a huge and growing following&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Who is watching Esports&quest;<&sol;span><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">According to the latest reports&comma; <&sol;span>380 million people worldwide<span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;"> are watching Esport events every year&period; Half of those audiences are very active and engage in every possible Esports tournament&period; Social Media guru Gary VEE predicted that the Online gaming industry would be massive in a few years&period; With the latest data&comma; we see that this sector is growing every year&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Match-fixing and corruption in Esports<&sol;span><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Australia is seriously fighting against corruption and match-fixing&period; Especially if events happen in Australia&comma; local investigators try their best to uncover the truth&period; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theguardian&period;com&sol;australia-news&sol;2019&sol;aug&sol;24&sol;game-over-six-arrested-by-australian-police-over-alleged-online-gaming-match-fixing">Australian police have arrested up to 6 persons<&sol;a> who were involved in match-fixing&period; Along with football&comma; tennis&comma; basketball&comma; Esports is already on the list of sports with a growing corruption problem&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">International boards of the online gaming industry are too focused on revenues and promotion&period; As it seems&comma; international committees of the online gaming industry aren&&num;8217&semi;t paying enough attention to match-fixing cases&period; Australian authorities are thinking differently however and local police are cracking down on the issue&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Neil Paterson&comma; the Police Assistant Commissioner of Victoria Police met with media representatives to talk about the latest cases&period; The Commissioner said that Australia is very strict with corruption and match-fixing&period; As we have recently learned&comma; the Australian police also have their eyes on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;eurogamer&period;net&sol;articles&sol;2019-09-24-counter-strike-and-overwatch-esports-teams-under-investigation-by-australian-police">Counter-Strike and Overwatch professional teams as well<&sol;a>&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s very likely more high level arrests of Esports related people are forthcoming&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Commissioner Paterson also noted that while Australia has a very liberal approach to the online gaming industry&comma; corruption and match-fixing&comma; could transform a healthy environment into an ugly one&period; Corruption cases may give shade to legal and honest <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;playamo&period;com&sol;en-AU">Australian online pokies<&sol;a><&sol;span>&comma; who are abiding by the law<span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">&period; That’s why Neil Paterson promised to Australians that police would do their best to arrest corrupt people&comma; behind the match making schemes and leave honest Australian gaming platforms alone&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Reason for match-fixing<&sol;span><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">As the reports claim&comma; six men were arrested for match-fixing in a Counter-Strike online event&period; Those players are mainly from Australia &lpar;Western Australia and Victoria&rpar;&period; Specific gamers were betting on different options&comma; and they were fixing matches to win gambled money&period; If the court can prove the gamers&&num;8217&semi; involvement in match-fixing&comma; they will face ten years in jail&period; But for now they&&num;8217&semi;ve paid the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;connecticut-bailbonds&period;com&sol;locations&sol;new-london-county-bail-bonds&sol;">New London County bail<&sol;a> so they&&num;8217&semi;re going to be released and have their court date scheduled&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Online gambling platforms joined Esports a few years ago&period; Match-fixing and corruption aren&&num;8217&semi;t affecting honest operators in Australia&comma; but a few bad apples can ruin an entire basket&period; That’s why police are doing their best to investigate these kinds of cases and knip them in the butt&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>We&&num;8217&semi;ll be keeping a close eye on these match-fixing stories out of Australia&period; Check back here for updates on the developing situation&period; What do you think about match-fixing in Esports&quest; Should it be treated like it would in any other traditional sport&quest; Let us know in the comment section below&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em>This article contains sponsored links&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;