Teenage CS:GO prodigy suspended by ESIC over match fixing allegations

Just when you think CS2 will finally launch, you get news about match fixing allegations in CS:GO instead. In an official statement, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) claims that teenaged CS:GO player Joel “joel” Holmlund has failed to keep the temptation of match fixing at bay. He has been suspended from ESIC-sanctioned esports events as a result.

The ESIC’s decision to suspend joel comes “in light of evidence available corroborating allegations of his multiple breaches of the ESIC Anti-Corruption Code” while he was playing for GODSENT earlier in 2023. The outlined breaches of said code are:

• “Between the period of 27 March 2023 to 28 March 2023, Mr. Holmlund placed bets on matches he was playing in;
• “On 31 March 2023, Mr. Holmlund placed two bets against his own team in one match; and
• “Between the period of 29 March 2023 to 1 May 2023, Mr. Holmlund proceeded to place 17 bets on various CS:GO matches.”

The ESIC’s investigation into these allegations has given it enough merit to pursue a suspension of joel from all ESIC Member events, which include the likes of ESL, DreamHack, and BLAST. This would also ban joel from participating in any Valve-sanctioned events. In other words, he will be ineligible for any CS:GO or CS2 Majors and most other high-tier events.

The current status of joel is “provisionally suspended” due to administrative delays on his Rejection Order Notice. The final resolution of the ESIC’s investigation and the length of joel’s potential suspension will be announced on or after Oct. 6, 2023.

The Swedish player took to Twitter to reveal that he was first notified of the allegations against him on Aug. 30. and was at first told that no further actions would be taken against him. Joel claims that the ESIC felt outside pressure to pursue him, which it did with a second charge notice on Sept. 19.

The third affected party to speak on the matter is joel’s former organization GODSENT. Unsurprisingly, now that the allegations against joel are public knowledge, GODSENT revealed their motivation for benching and subsequently cutting the player was related to the ESIC’s investigation into joel’s supposed breaching of the rules.

Joel was viewed as a promising CS:GO youngster until his recent troubles. At just 18 years of age, he was regularly top-fragging for GODSENT, whom he joined in January this year, and was shaping out to become the next dominant Swede on the scene. His form saw a noticeable dip at the start of April, which was at first thought to be the reason for his departure from GODSENT.

Now we know this is not the reason for the split, and there is some level of conviction in GODSENT’s official statement on this unpleasant ordeal, as if they themselves had their suspicions. This obviously doesn’t paint a positive picture of joel and his situation is looking quite dire, though our own examination of the ESIC’s allegations revealed some peculiar discrepancies.

A previous version of the ESIC statement claimed joel “placed bets on matches he was playing in, including against his own team in a match that the team lost and in which he played particularly poorly,” but the statement has since been updated.

Even if our observations are correct, this still doesn’t address the other part of the allegations about betting on CS:GO matches. In any case, we can’t make any conclusions without the full details, which only the ESIC and possibly joel know, but there are definitely some shaky details at hand, which make Oct. 6 all the more interesting.