Two men charged with LPL match fixing offenses

Australian police have announced that two men have been charged with offenses relating to match fixing in the LPL, China’s official Legends of Legends circuit.

According to the statement from police in the state of Victoria, the two men will face separate charges. One has been charged with the “use of corrupt conduct information for betting purposes”. The other faces a charge of engaging in conduct that “corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome of event or event contingency”.

Both are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Alleged LPL match fixing

The statement from Victoria Police revealed that the investigation that led to the arrests stems from information surrounding matches played in the LPL, provided by a betting agent in June 2021. While it is unknown when these matches occurred, police revealed they believed that “a number of matches were impacted”.

Wayne Woltsche, Detective Acting Superintendent at Australian State Intelligence Division, commented:

“We’ve developed strong relationships with a number of esports stakeholders and betting agencies, and we’ll continue to work together to target any suspicious activity.

It’s important that people understand these are significant criminal offences with substantial penalties, and these charges show that we will take any reports of suspicious activity seriously.”

No further details were released, and the investigation was said to be “ongoing”, with the accused individuals due to appear in court in Melbourne in September.

However, the allegations follow a recent trend of similar scandals for the LPL. In April 2021, 38 players and coaches across the LPL and its development league were banned after a Riot investigation uncovered widespread match fixing. In April 2022, LGD Gaming’s Chen ‘Jay’ Bo received a permanent ban for alleged match fixing.

Match fixing is an illegal practice where players and external individuals conspire to achieve a specific result. This is typically done in order to profit from bets made on the result of the game.

Header: Riot Games, Victoria Police