As more money enters professional gaming, we're going to see more and more of the problems faced by traditional sports. Earlier this year we had players in the Counter Strike scene popped for taking adderral and ritalin to aid their focus and now in the Korean pro-leagues for StarCraft 2, as many as 11 people have been arrested for match fixing.
The Korean Esports Association (KeSPA) claims that some of those arrested are big names like the head coach of Prime, Gerrard, programmer Choi Byeong-Heon, as well as YoDa and BBoongBBoong. They and a number of others are implicated in taking bribes as high as $17,000 per match to let themselves lose. However the brokers running the scheme, several of whom are also implicated in the scandal, made upwards of $35,000 for the plan.
The reason for some of those involved taking bribes, was said to be because their teams were struggling financially, with the coaches like Gerrard said to be in masses of debt.
"The association will pursue strong legal measures based on recent reports, and will be utterly uncompromising should investigators find any hint of connection. Going forward, the association's stance toward illegal betting will continue to be one of zero-compromise, and we will continue to respond strongly to create a healthy e-Sports culture," KeSPA said in a statement.
In the mean time, Gerrard's managed League of Legends team, SBENU, will be run in his stead by another member of the team. Those found guilty of match fixing will be given lifetime bans from all leagues.
