Two individuals, O’Donnell and Eli Clarke from Australia, were charged to pay back $7000 AUD for betting and match-fixing.
While it’s hard to make money as Esports professional players, other illegal ways exist. Match fixing is one such disgusting action for any athlete, regardless of Esports or traditional sports.
On Tuesday, June 8, 2022, two Australian VALORANT teams: Team Bliss and Eshays went face to face against each other in a domestic tournament called LPL Autumn Cup Legends 2021. Being the favorite team, Team Bliss had a higher odds of winning the best of 3 series.
However, Team Bliss player Ty ‘junglew0w’ O’Donnell and his friend Eli Clarke had different plans for the match. Eli Clarke was not a player on the team. However, with Junlew0w’s help, Eli Clarke bet against Team Bliss to lose the first map: Icebox, in a bo3 series.
Unsurprisingly, Junglew0w threw the match and lost the first map to Eshays with a score of 8-13 on Icebox. However, Team bliss continued to win the bo3 series by winning the following two maps. The scores were, Ascent 13-3 and Bind 13-4. Team Bliss later won the LPL Autumn Cup Legends 2021 tournament and received 1st prize.
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VALORANT Pro Fined for Match Fixing
According to The Age, O’Donell and Clarke won $7000 AUD through betting and match-fixing against his own team. And, O’Donell, AKA Junglew0w took $1200 AUD from the winnings while Eli Clarke walked away with $5800 AUD.
The total prize money for the LPL Autumn Cup Legends 2021 was $2500 AUD. And Team Bliss received $1200 AUD for getting 1st place standing in the tournament. Compared to $1200 AUD for the whole winning team, $1200 AUD for a single player seemed like a good deal to Junlew0w.
However, the aftermath was yet to come. O’Donell and Clarke were suspected of match-fixing by the betting agency called Ladbrokes. “Police executed search warrants on the duo’s homes on November 20, 2021, seizing mobile phones and uncovering the series of Facebook messages.”, The Age mentioned what happened later.
The court then found text messages between the two friends about “juicy odds” in the Team Bliss vs. Eshays match. Additionally, they discussed how they would go through the whole process just before the match. “I’ll bet big, I don’t care, but then you’ve got to deliver,” Clarke said in a message to O’Donnell.
Later, the duo were handed a 12-month good behavior bond and forced to pay back $7000 of winnings to Ladbrokes for illegal bets by the court. No other player or member from Team Bliss had any involvement with this incident.
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