Sources have told Esports News UK of some ‘suspicious betting behaviour’ made during two matches in the HCG Masters, a CSGO tournament that was suddenly postponed, leaving staff (including some UK talent) unpaid.
While staff are now beginning to get paid what they’re owed some two months after the tournament was halted, Esports News UK has learnt of separate, suspicious activity during parts of the tournament.
Now, to make it abundantly clear, suspicious betting activity does not necessarily mean match fixing took place. We have carried out extensive research on this over the past month or so, and here’s what we’ve learnt.
During the match between HeroC1ty and CC Oglum on February 10th, which the latter won 2-1 (5-16, 16-5 and 16-9), multiple ‘suspicious bets’ were made backing HeroC1ty on the first map.
And during Dabbing Koalas’ 2-0 win over Masonic on February 21st (16-6, 16-14), an abnormal volume of sudden betting activity was seen in favour of the Koalas just after the match went live. However, it’s worth noting Masonic were playing the match with a stand-in, who was not known in advance, so bookmakers (multiple sites offered bets on this tournament) were unable to adjust their prices beforehand.
Following this match, it’s understood esports data company Grid Esports had asked for the audio for two matches and then decided to cut ties with the HCG Masters.
Some sources have told Esports News UK that Grid had flagged match fixing in its system, but refused to state which games, and ignored requests for more information. Hardcore Gaming said they ‘didn’t receive an official report’ from Grid, and decided to continue the tournament.
“We beat everyone quite easily. I feel like the games we lost, we lost on our own mistakes and not because the enemies were better. So if they threw or not, I feel like we would’ve beaten them anyway.”
Cox, who played for the Dabbing Koalas in the HCG
Others have told Esports News UK that certain match-ups were changed after the initial draw or moved to times where they were not on broadcast.
This Twitter thread from freelance esports tournament and admin, Janka ‘JanicKa’ Vorčáková, also mentioned “odd invites, rescheduling and matches played off stream”.
Janka said: “I was not surprised when to my ears came info like some matches in the tournament [there] was match-fixing (I got told by the data company and that data company instantly terminated contract with them).”
While Janka doesn’t name the company, it’s likely this was esports data platform Grid Esports, which apparently stepped away from the tournament after the match between Dabbing Koalas and Masonic.
Esports News UK contacted Grid Esports about the matter and the company declined to comment.
When we reached out to Hardcore Gaming’s organisers, they told us they would be conducting their own internal investigation.
‘We are quite sad that HCG developed in this direction’ – comment from accused teams
Esports News UK also reached out to the four teams in the two matches where suspicious betting activity took place. A few got back to us with comment.
Masonic Blaq said: “As the CEO of Masonic, I can confidently say that my players and staff never would take part in [match fixing]. We follow the guidelines and rules written by ESIC in any case, and not just the players but also employees in the club. We do everything possible to uphold integrity as an organisation.
“I cannot comment on the behalf of other teams or betting activity because no one from Masonic was part of anything of the like.
“We are quite sad that HCG developed in this direction. My team won their chance to taste what esport dreams are made of and got robbed of this opportunity. The momentum this event would have brought the club also cost us in both time and resources.”
On the stand-in player, Blaq added: “We used one of our ACD players because m4tt (previous player in Masonic) fell ill on the day. The player we fielded from the academy was tOPZ. But both players are not part of Masonic today.”
“As the CEO of Masonic, I can confidently say that my players and staff never would take part in [match fixing]. We follow the guidelines and rules written by ESIC in any case, and not just the players but also employees in the club. We do everything possible to uphold integrity as an organisation.”
Blaq, Masonic
The Dabbing Koalas also told Esports News UK they had apparently been accused of match fixing by Grid. When asked why, they were told that specifically their player Alin ‘cox’ Mocean, and “someone called jOELZ”, were cheaters.
The Dabbing Koalas did have a Joel ‘joel’ Holmlund on their team in the HCG Masters, and said that Grid “have mistaken my teammate joel with jOELZ for some reason”.
“We got invited as a replacement for a team that cancelled at the last minute,” the Dabbing Koalas management told Esports News UK. “After the first game, an admin has contacted me saying that we got accused of match fixing. She told me that one of their business partners have withdrawn from the tournament, and she said that my teammate “cox” was accused of having a cheating ban on FaceIt, which he did but that expired five to six years ago.
“Problem was that cox has changed his FaceIt nickname that for some reason led to some random FaceIt account, which had a cheating ban on FaceIt and a Vac ban on Steam.”
Cox added: “About the cheating acusations, well, there was this issue with my FaceIt profile “being banned” but then, the question rises, how would I be able to play if am banned?”
Cox said he had the nickname BlameItOnMe_ then changed it, and someone else took his old username, before getting banned themselves: “Somehow, clicking on my name would lead to his, but if you went to the Steam profile and check the steam ID, it had nothing to do with me.”
On the suspicious betting activity, Cox added: “I did feel like we won the game [vs Masonic] quite easily, so I do not know if they threw the game, but take in consideration our mix is based on some really skilled individuals. But we also beat everyone else quite easily, I feel like the games we lost, we lost on our own mistakes and not because the enemies were better. So if they threw or not, I feel like we would’ve beaten them anyway. In this qualification game, there were better opponents than Masonic and that was a fairly easy game also.”
The other two teams mentioned, CC Oglum and HeroC1ty, did not send official comment to Esports News UK.
At least one team in the tournament told Esports News UK they will no longer be taking part.
Grid declined to comment on the matter, and Hardcore Gaming said they were conducting their own investigation.
Hardcore Gaming also posted this tweet following the publication of this article:
According to the contract between GRID and HCG, HCG should have received a formal notification from the service provider if such an event had indeed occurred. To date, no such request has been made by GRID.
— Hardcore Gaming | #HCGesports (@hcg_esports) May 23, 2022
Esports News UK still understands Grid had flagged up potential match fixing with HGC.
The news comes after ESIC reported a rise in suspicious esports bets in general.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
