Today on June 19, 2019, one scandal took place and got us to rethink about the nature of Esports
Match-fixing scandal
Recently, following one scandal of match-fixing in League of Legends, LGD Gaming’s jungler Xiang “Condi” Ren-Jie was among the controversy. The player received a penalty of an 18-month competitive ban after Condi admitted himself to LPL officials that there were people forcing him into throwing matches.
According to the rule, Condi violated the term of “providing information and assisting others to influence fair competition and attempt to influence the game or its outcomes by means of prohibited behavior” in the 2019 LPL season.
Blackmailed
Condi admitted to the act of betting on one of LGD’s games in the NEST 2019 tournament. LGD manager Song "Hesitate" Zi-yang blackmailed Condi into doing the match-fixing for him, threatening to expose him if he refused.
The conflict happened and we saw the abrupt change in LGD Gaming’s starting lineup in the match against FPX. Liang “RD” Teng-li would be the starting jungler over Condi for no apparent reason. Condi stated, “I firmly rejected them and reported it to the club,”. Apparently, Condi turned himself in to top the blackmail from Hesitate.
Punishment from LPL officials
The other two players Fu “Fdy” Ding-Yuan and Tang “1ntruder” Sheng from the Academy of LGD were also involved in the scandal and fined with 10 months ban from the competitive scene. LGD’s manager Song “Hesitate” Zi-Yang also received a permanent ban from any League of Legends events.
Condi’s allegation
In his lengthy statement to admit the match-fixing deed, he acknowledged that his action was wrong, “due to his impulses”. That was his only time in his career to do such a thing.
He was fully aware of his wrong decision. However, he didn’t want others to manipulate his wrong-doing to force him into committing another misdeed. Now that he has turned himself in, he is ready to take full responsibility for his mistakes.
LGD’s Reaction
Following the incident, LGD has terminated the contract with the mentioned players and the manager. LGD stressed that they would not tolerate the act of match-fixing behavior.
Match-fixing in Esports
This is not the first time the match-fixing problem has made headlines. Match-fixing has always been a problem for Esports, not just League of Legends.