In the esports sector of Valorant, a betting scandal came to light after a tournament in September. Developer Riot has now suspended the team Resurgence from Singapore following its own investigations. The reason: Two of the professionals bet against their own team.
What is it about? During the Valorant Champions Tour (VCR), a match between the teams Resurgence and Black Bird Ignis uncovered a betting fraud. The winner received a prize of around $25,000, and the tournament was part of the Ignition Series.
The whole event took place during the “Epulze Royal SEA Cup” and was already in September 2020. The match ended 2-0 in favor of Black Bird Ignis.
After the tournament, another pro, “calel,” stepped forward and presented a document revealing some chat logs and other information. These exposed the pro Germsg as a match-fixer who bet against his own team and apparently actively manipulated the matches.
Following the revelations, developer Riot Games initiated their own investigations. The result: besides semi-pro Malcolm ‘Germsg’ Chung, his teammate Ryan ‘Dreamycsgo’ Tan was also involved in the bets. However, the whole team had to face the consequences.
Riot suspends the entire team because the rest said nothing
What exactly happened? Both professionals bet against their own team and apparently manipulated matches. Later, they tried to persuade some team members to join in.
From the document from calel, it appears that it involved several thousand dollars. Colleague Dreamycsgo was apparently in charge of raising the funds, while Germsg placed the bets.
In a statement, Riot addressed the investigations. They clearly indicated that Germsg and Dreamycsgo violated the guidelines of Valorant:
After an ongoing investigation of the match Resurgence against BlackBird Ignis during the VALORANT Ignition Series in September 2020, VALORANT Esports has decided that Malcolm “Germsg” Chung and Ryan “Dreamycsgo” Tan violated rules 7.2.1 and 7.2.4 of the VALORANT Global Competition Policy by manipulating the outcome of a competitive VALORANT match for financial gain. They will be banned from the VCT for 36 months.
The rest of the Resurgence roster will receive reduced penalties based on their degree of culpability and cooperation during the investigations.
(via playvalorant.com)
Why is the entire team being suspended? The investigations managed to rule out any other team members being actively involved in the bets. The remaining team members apparently refused to participate.
However, they did not report the two match-fixers to management. Therefore, they cannot escape a penalty, even though it will be lesser. For such violations, Riot also has a clear penalty catalogue that was invoked.
How long will the players be suspended? The two offenders will be banned for three years each. They are not allowed to participate in any official and competitive matches of Valorant for 36 months. Here are the penalties at a glance:
- Malcolm ‘Germsg‘ Chung: 3 years
- Ryan ‘Dreamycsgo‘ Tan: 3 years
- Justin ‘Boplek‘ Wong Chong Cheng: 1 year
- Sengdala ‘Jabtheboy‘ Jamnalong: 1 year
- Du Min ‘Mortdecai‘ Yeo: 6 months
- Benedict ‘Benaf‘ Tan: 6 months
What do you think of the case? Do you find the penalties fair? How do you view the fact that the entire team was banned? Please feel free to write us in the comments.
