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British pro Valorant player Benjy ‘benjyfishy’ Fish has received a warning from Riot Games for betting on the Worlds 2024 final in London last month.
He placed a €200 bet that T1 would beat BLG in the grand finals at the O2 Arena, which they did, and he won €100.
In doing so, he breached section 3.15 of the Riot Games Esports Global Code of Conduct, which states: “Esports professionals may not place, or attempt to place, a bet or wager, directly or indirectly, on any competition, game, play or component thereof in which such esports professionals participate.”
While Benjyfishy competes in Valorant, and the game he bet on is League of Legends, there are still clear conflicts of interests in esports players placing such bets, as there are for journalists and others who may have inside information about professional teams. Both games are of course owned by Riot Games.
Benjy quickly realised his mistake, and let his esports organisation Team Heretics know. They then made Riot aware, and Benjy was asked to provide a written statement. He also made a donation to charity.
“When evaluating this case, Riot Games considered several substantial mitigating factors that informed the final decision,” Riot said in this ruling on Benjyfishy.
“The individual demonstrated full cooperation throughout the investigation, including providing comprehensive details about their betting account and actions. This cooperative approach not only assisted in resolving the matter efficiently but also reflected a genuine willingness to take responsibility for their behaviour.”
Riot Games
“Benjyfishy also expressed sincere remorse and regret for their actions, which was demonstrated by their proactive decision to self-report the incident to team management upon realising the implications of their behavior. This accountability was further evidenced by their volunteering to donate a sum to charity.
“These factors collectively reflect benjyfishy’s accountability, good faith efforts to correct their behaviour, and an understanding of the seriousness of the rules they breached.
“In view of the above, Benjyfishy is warned and a fine is imposed on Team Heretics.”
The news seems to have been first broken by Tanmay Mhatre of E4Equip.
Benjyfishy on receiving warning for placing bet on T1
Benjyfishy addressed the matter in a Twitch stream, and also commented on X below, saying he forgot he wasn’t allowed to bet on another esport outside of Valorant.
“I see a lot of people on Twitter flaming Riot, but [it’s not on them], I’m just stupid, I’m really stupid,” he said.
“I got invited to watch the Worlds finals in London, and I’m a very big T1 fan.
“For a moment, I kind of forgot I was a pro player, and thought, ‘fuck it, I’m gonna put a bet on’, purely because I’m a fan. The next day, after I won the bet, I realised I should probably tell someone – because I’ve been told I’m not allowed to do that – I just literally forgot.”
Benjyfishy
“I could’ve not told anyone, but I quite like my job. If, somehow, somebody finds out, then I would lose my job and I’d probably be banned. So I reported everything.
“I could’ve bet more, but I’m not a big gambler, I just wanted to do it for fun. This is the only ever time I’ve bet on a game, in sports or esports. I didn’t do any bets before I was a pro player. I hate losing money. And I’m not stupid enough to bet on a Valorant game.
“I got an official warning, and it’s my bad, I’m an idiot. I’ve paid for my actions, I understand what I did was wrong and I’ve apologised.”
Team Heretics on being fined for Benjyfishy’s Worlds bet
Team Heretics general manager for Valorant, Niklas Geiß, said: “Benjy never interacted with any T1 LoL member and simply acted as a fan here – he visited the final.
“Was it a dumb thing ? Yes and the fine is totally understandable. However Benjy immediately realised he did a mistake and reached out to me on the same day. We actively reached out to Riot together to solve the situation in the same hour.
“This was not even 24 hours after the final. During the whole process with Riot he was more than cooperative, offered to donate the money, gave full access to the account and regretted the situation and was pro-active on all of that. We also never tried to fight the punishment. Therefore he didn’t get caught or anything, we were the ones flagging it.
“I think it’s our responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen again, but also Riot’s responsibility to educate players more, especially with the potential upcoming changes.”
Niklas Geiß, Team Heretics
“Admitting mistakes and trying to fix them is way more respectable than trying to hide them. Seeing this behaviour from a 20-year-old person is good and it was the right thing to do. [We’re] more than proud of him and how he acted during the whole thing. It takes a lot to act that way and I also appreciate his trust to handle this.
“I also think it’s our responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen again, but also Riot’s responsibility to educate players more, especially with the potential upcoming changes.”
Niklas is likely referring to Riot’s recent relaxing of its rules around betting sponsorships.
For 2025, partnered LoL Esports and VCT teams in Americas and EMEA that are allowed to explore partnerships with Riot-approved betting platforms.
Related article: Researchers call for better governance to tackle “wild west” of esports sponsorships in UK study led by Keele University lecturer
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.
