Match fixing in eSports is an increasingly big problem for the industry, Not only is the problem getting worse but the issue of match fixing has now impacted the best players in eSports. For example in 2016 superstar player Lee Hyun of StarCraft was arrested by Korean police. The twenty-three year old was arrested with eight other players including financial backers and brokers. They were arrested for match fixing, accused of throwing two matches in the KeSPA Cup. For throwing the matches Hyun received 60,000 dollars from the gambling ring; in January of that year Hyun was found guilty of throwing of throwing another match for around 26,000 dollars. This gambling ring was found to have corrupted more players in the past. The largest amount of money taken from the gabling ring was around 87,000 dollars for throwing a match. why do players seem to want to jump the gun on match fixing? one of the big problems is that most of the prizes that players win do not offer that much money. The fact also that a lot of the eSports competitions are winner take all encourages players to take more money from outside sources. fixing matches for some of these players is another way for them to make money, is there a sense for feeling bad for them yes, but resorting to match fixing ruins the spirit of competition. Brokers have told players that everyone is doing so why not join in. This makes players think that this Is the norm for eSports. With the growing popularity of eSports this type of activity will continue to grow, this type of environment should not be allowed in any sports what so ever. The impact of match fixing will start to effect the sports that we love the most sooner rather than later. The big question is what will we do about it?
https://www.casino.org/news/esports-match-fixing-problem-exposed-korean-prosecutors-report
Group 4 