StarCraft is one of the biggest competitive e-sports event in the world. With prize pools of half a million dollars, there is big money to be won.
Not only is there money to be won by the players, but where ever there is competition, there is money to be won on gambling.
Due to the incredible popularity of StarCraft, especially in South Korea, the betting scene around the e-sports event is huge! Where there is money, there is cheating.
A huge betting scandal has recently came to light in the west, thanks to StarCraft clan Team Liquid, linking to the many articles in Korea.
The people under suspicion for the scandal have not been named. That said, Gamepron is citing a post that’s claiming some very big players were involved, including LizzCon champion sAviOr, a.k.a. Je Mae Yoon.
How do you cheat at StarCraft championships? Easy, you leak information to the gambling syndicates regarding player line up, and you intentional loose a match. Also, coaches have reportedly taken money to change a teams line up.
This has allegedly been going on since 2006 and was most rampant in 2008. A telling sign is sAviOr’s run of poor gaming in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
This scandal is surprisingly robust, with commentators and reporters also allegedly taking money.
Teams are working hard to reinstall the good of the sport by forcing the offending coaches and players to leave, or retire from the sport.
One of the reasons StarCraft is such big business is because of how hard it is to play competitively at such a high level. You need to micro-manage your force while keeping a close eye on everything your opponent does, and working to counteract it.
this might sound simply, but it is anything but when your opponent is punching in up to 5 commands per second. Reflexes and forward planning are key.
Matches can last anywhere from a few minutes to hours.
If you haven’t seen one of these e-sports StarCraft championships before (older matches can be found on youtube), I highly recommend it. Maybe, avoid betting on the matches though.
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