Six Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players have been arrested in Victoria, Australia on suspicion of match-fixing.
The Victoria Police, who made the arrest, worked with Esports Integrity Coalition, a not-for-profit association that promotes integrity in esports, on the investigation, which started back in March when police received information from a betting agency that the players had orchestrated throwing matches that they had placed bets on.
All six players have since been interviewed and released with the investigation still ongoing, and there is not information as to whom those players, or teams, were.
“It’s alleged that players were arranging to throw matches and subsequently placing bets on those matches,” Victoria Police said in a release.
“We want the esports community to know that ESIC will pursue as many cases as we can, not just to apply esports sanctions like banning orders, but also to try and ensure these corrupt players face criminal consequences too” Neil Paterson, assistant commissioner of Victoria Police said, according to Kotaku.
“What happened in Australia today should be a wake up call to those players match-fixing that the net is closing. Every ESIC suspicious betting alert goes to Victoria Police and, if there is any Australian connection, they will pursue it.”
“Esports is really an emerging sporting industry and with that will come the demand for betting availability on the outcomes of tournaments and matches,” he said.
“These warrants also highlight that police will take any reports of suspicious or criminal activity within esports seriously, and we encourage anyone with information to come forward.”
