Bookmakers Parimatch and 1xBet reported there were odd bets placed on a match between Cyber Legacy and Vikin.gg at ESL One Germany on Oct. 18.
Parimatch CEO Dmitry Sergeev questioned the legitimacy of the match due to the odds dropping from 1.45 to 1.25 pre-match and then dipping again on sites that were taking second-map bets despite Vikin.gg being the heavy favorites. Parimatch withdrew the match from its betting line, and several other betting sites did the same.
1xBet raised similar concerns, and said action had been taken on other CL matches six months ago. It claimed that many of the bets being made were from freshly registered accounts.
No additional evidence has been raised to show that CL did indeed throw the series against Vikin.gg, though they did lose 2-0. In response to the claims, Cyber Legacy’s CEO Vladislav Grechkin said his team is innocent.
“Cyber Legacy always adheres to sports ethics and has great respect for the audience,” Grechkin said. “Participation in ‘fake’ matches is unacceptable for us. Vikin.gg was initially the favorite of the meeting. Based on the fact that our Dota 2 roster is in a ‘reboot’ state, and on the results of the last few games, it could be predicted that we would lose.”
Grechkin also said nothing the team has done has been suspicious, citing the growth in following for the team as a potential reason for the odd betting or ulterior motives on the part of bookmakers who spoke out against the team.
Another instance of alleged match-fixing popped up just a day later, as the Yellow Submarine team, another CIS competitor, reported some of its players had received offers to throw during their series against Na’Vi.
According to an image shared by team manager Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov, the first player approached was offlaner Magomed “Collapse” Halilov. He was offered 1 million Russian rubles, which is nearly $13,000 USD. The money was offered to be split between him and two of his teammates who would also be brought in as part of the deal if they didn’t tell Korb3n and agreed to throw.
Upon sharing the image, Korb3n even added that he was skeptical of the arguments between CL and the bookmakers since there was no evidence, but upon seeing his players get approached, he changed his mind.
There will likely be a bigger investigation launched after ESL One Germany concludes on Nov. 1, with a specific focus on the CIS teams like CL.
