ESIC signs anti-corruption partnership with GG.BET

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) recently announced that it has entered into a three-year partnership with betting site GG.BET. Since the bookmaker is to be made a partner in fighting corruption, this partnership has understandably caused a lot of discussion in the esports community.

ESIC announced its partnership with GG.BET at the ESIC Global Esports Summit London. The partnership will see the betting provider support ESIC in creating an anti-corruption video tutorial series.

Stephen Hanna, director of global strategy and partnerships at ESIC, stressed that partnerships like the one with GG.BET are vital to the regulator’s mission to “promote integrity and prevent corruption in esports”.

Partnership of GG.BET with ESIC

GG.BET Chief Executive Officer, Dmytro Voshkarin, emphasized that the betting site has invested in esports in recent years to “create a safe and fair environment”, working closely with teams in the process. 

“We are pleased to be working with ESIC, a partner with whom we share a common passion for bringing integrity to esports, and we believe this tutorial will be helpful in achieving this goal.”

Hana added:

“We’re grateful for their support and look forward to working together over the next three years to create a stronger, safer esports industry for all.”

Goal of the partnership

ESIC’s anti-corruption tutorial aims to “educate players and stakeholders about ethical behavior in the esports industry” in order to maintain integrity in esports. With this move, GG.BET has also expanded its partnership with ESIC and became a Tier 1 Anti-Corruption Supporter. What exactly that means is not yet entirely clear, but the official announcement states that “this reinforces GG.BET’s commitment to creating a fair and secure environment in the esports industry.”

Prior to GG.BET, ESIC entered into an anti-cheat partnership with cybersecurity specialists Denuvo by Irdeto. GG.BET supports international tournaments, sponsors streams and creates content with casters, streamers, and influencers and has active sponsorships with the CS:GO rosters of Natus Vincere and Vitality.

How much integrity does the ESIC itself have?

The partnership between the two companies has drawn a lot of criticism from the esports community. Many felt that a partnership between an Integrity Commission and a bookmaker of all companies did not seem very trustworthy. Some voices have been raised and said that the whole project sounds like greenwashing.

In addition to the questionable partnership, ESIC itself is not the most transparent company. The commission suddenly sprung up and took care of the CS:GO coaching bugs scandal that affected several dozen people. It was cleaned up and some coaches were suddenly confronted with the fraud.

While holding people accountable might be a good thing, there were also multiple cases that didn’t go so well and ESIC made some decisions that weren’t so easy to understand, such as why particular coaches were banned and for how long. It’s also not entirely clear who is behind the ESIC and who actually controls it – if that is the case at all. In addition, ESIC, like any other project, needs money to survive.

Of course, the partnership with a successful bookmaker can be just what they need. But this partnership does not sit well, especially with the coaches of some teams, and it is questionable how much integrity ESIC itself has.

Header: ESIC