{"id":35425,"date":"2016-04-25T16:57:53","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T23:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=35425"},"modified":"2016-04-25T16:59:29","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T23:59:29","slug":"esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Esports\u2019 Match-fixing Problem Exposed by Korean Prosecutors Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"
StarCraft \u201cSuperStar\u201d Lee \u201cLife\u201d Seung Hyun, whose arrest for match-fixing has shocked the esports world. (Image: telkongaming.co.za)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Korean police report into a StarCraft match-fixing scandal makes depressing reading for followers of esports<\/a> and the nascent betting industry that is growing up around professional video gaming.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

In January, Lee \u201cLife\u201d Seung Hyun, 19, the 2014 world champion and 2015 runner-up, was arrested by authorities on suspicion of throwing matches to benefit a betting syndicate.<\/p>\n

He was indicted over the weekend along with another top player, Bung \u201cBbyong\u201d Woo Yong, 23, and eight others, including financial backers and brokers. Seung Hyun is accused of throwing two matches during the KeSPA Cup, for which he received $60,000 from the gambling ring. Woo Yong has been charged with throwing one match, in January, for around $26,000.<\/p>\n

Shady Dealings<\/b><\/h2>\n

The prosecutor\u2019s report describes in detail how the deals went down. The two players were approached by brokers who initially pretended to be fans and who persuaded them to throw the matches on behalf of their financial backers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crimes were perpetrated with clear division of roles: Financial backers to put up the compensation for match-fixing, brokers to solicit the match-fixing and transfer the funds, and an employee in charge of receiving gambling funds and placing bets on gambling sites,\u201d said the report.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The ring placed multiple bets on the fixed games on multiple online gambling sites. The largest individual bet on the crooked matches was around $87,000.<\/p>\n

Esports, it seems, is particularly vulnerable to match-fixing because of the relative low prize money on offer to its top players, particularly in smaller tournaments, when compared with world class athletes in major sports. As editor of Teamliquid.net Kwanghee Woo tweeted this week, \u201cthe fee to throw matches in the KeSPA Cup was seven times the prize money for first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

System Encourages Cheating<\/b><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, esports journalist Rob Zacny pointed out in an article for kotaku.com that because prize money in esports is so top heavy and \u201cwinner-takes-all,\u201d players are almost encouraged to cheat in order to mitigate risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may not be enough money to go around\u00a0StarCraft<\/i><\/a>\u00a0to create a financial incentive to resist gambling rings. But right now, it feels like\u00a0StarCraft<\/i>\u00a0is drowning in gambling money, and the compensation for all but the winning players is so poor that a broker\u2019s offer could look like a very attractive way of mitigating risk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is losing a single game in the round of 32 or 16 next to $30,000, when most players would be lucky to get a quarter of that playing honestly? And when the math is skewed that badly towards cheating, how do you clean up the game?\u201d<\/p>\n

Esports, it seems, has a very big match-fixing problem, and the indictments this week were the latest in a long line of high-profile scandals. Depressingly, the players themselves, according to the prosecutor\u2019s report, were ultimately persuaded to come on board with the scheme because the brokers told them \u201ceveryone is doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Korean police report into a StarCraft match-fixing scandal makes depressing reading for followers of esports and the nascent betting industry that is growing up around professional video gaming. In January, Lee \u201cLife\u201d Seung Hyun, 19, the 2014 world champion and 2015 runner-up, was arrested by authorities on suspicion of throwing matches to benefit a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":35427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEsports\u2019 Match-fixing Problem Exposed by Korean Prosecutors Report - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"StarCraft World Champion indicted on match-fixing charges\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Esports\u2019 Match-fixing Problem Exposed by Korean Prosecutors Report - Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"StarCraft World Champion indicted on match-fixing charges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-25T23:57:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-25T23:59:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/life11-800x400.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/\",\"name\":\"Esports\u2019 Match-fixing Problem Exposed by Korean Prosecutors Report - Casino.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/life11-800x400.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-25T23:57:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-25T23:59:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"StarCraft World Champion indicted on match-fixing charges\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/life11-800x400.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/life11-800x400.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"StarCraft \u201cSuperStar\u201d Lee \u201cLife\u201d Seung Hyun, whose arrest for match-fixing has shocked the esports world. 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