Professional StarCraft II players arrested for cheating in game

In South Korea, Changwon Regional Prosecution Service’s special investigation division released the prosecution report of a StarCraft II match-fixing scandal. According to the report, eight (including the programmer) have been indicted and arrested, two have been indicted but not arrested, and one individual is still fleeing. Changwon Prosecution’s first investigation was in October 2015 when they arrested nine illegal gambling participants. This is the second investigation on large eSports match-fixing. 

Connection chart of prosecuted defendants according to the report

One of the players (marked “A”) received 70 million won (about $60750.90 USD) for losing two games while the other (marked “J”) received 30 million won (about $26036.10 USD) for losing one game. This money came from financial backers via the brokers. Both of the players are professional gamers from Korea.

Since the Changwon Regional Prosecution Service is protecting privacy of the defendants, their names are only represented in letters. With the exception of one of the financial backers (marked “K”), who is fleeing from prosecution, all of the participants were indicted.

As eSport is becoming subject to illegal gambling issues like traditional sport games, there will be law enforcement to regulate eSport gambling and cheating activities too.