Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) is hosting a match-fixing summit in Malta on June 20th.
The independent, not-for-profit association has invited tournament organisers, licensed betting operators, integrity professionals, sponsors, organisation executives, and game developers to attend.
The aim of the summit is to gain support from the aforementioned parties on the following matters: improved funding for intregrity issues, enhancing player education, configuring a shared framework of standards for esports, and combating unlicensed & unregulated betting.
Ian Smith, Commissioner of Esports Integrity Coalition commented in a release: “The numbers of suspicious bet notifications being received by ESIC now are alarming. While we’re confident that most of the top tier competitions are operating to the highest standards of integrity, we’re deeply concerned with what is happening in the lower echelons of esports. We are therefore today calling on game developers of the esports titles to join the other stakeholders and betting operators themselves in supporting additional integrity measures to tackle the issue.”
According to a release from ESIC, it received 74 suspicious betting alerts in 2018 – an alarming number when compared to 2017’s 39 alerts. More specifically, the breakdown per game is as follows:
- Dota 2 – 32 suspicious betting reports
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – 20 suspicious betting reports
- Warcraft III – 11 suspicious betting reports
- StarCraft II – 4 suspicious betting reports
- Other titles – 7 suspicious betting reports
The association currently counts ESL, DreamHack, LVP, Intel, Gambling Commission, and Malta Gaming Authority among its many members. Esports Insider is its key media partner.
“If we act quickly, and collectively, we can head this growing issue off at the pass,” Smith added. “We are delighted that 20 significant esports stakeholders are attending, but this now needs everyone involved; in particular we need all esports related game developers to start taking this issue seriously given that, to date, not one developer has contributed one dollar to our fight for competitive integrity in esports and we are in danger of being overwhelmed. No-one wants to see esports lose its credibility over an easily preventable threat to its integrity.”
Esports Insider says: ESIC is fighting the good fight in this industry so we support everything it’s doing – including this summit. The turnout already sounds promising but the more companies that attend, the better.
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