Australian police have arrested five people accused of betting on CS: GO contract matches. The games in question were part of a local semi-professional league called the ESEA Mountain Dew League. In March 2019, a betting agency filed a police report in connection with suspicious bets placed by several people. In an investigation that took about a year to complete, police found that the suspects were directly connected to one of the teams and used information obtained about the known outcome of matches to place large bets.
As a result, six residents of several Australian cities, aged between 19 and 27, were arrested. In total, they managed to earn about 30,000 Australian dollars, which is about $19,000 US dollars, from the unfair bets. They made at least twenty bets for this purpose.
Each of those arrested has been charged with multiple counts of betting on match-fixing. They could now face up to ten years in prison. Melbourne Police say the trial will take place in Melbourne and Sale in September. It can be expected that as interest in cybersports grows, such incidents will occur more frequently and will require closer monitoring by tournament organizers.
