Two related stories for the Esports Integrity Coalition including a warm hug for their newest member Luckbox, and a boot up the arse to a Counter-Strike player who decided to cheat.
The Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) has handed out a five-year ban to India Optic’s Nikhil “Forsaken” Kumawat after he was found guilty of using third-party software to improve his aim during two Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) tournaments.
Kumawat – Forsaken by name, Forsaken by nature – had the ankle chains applied after organisers discovered the cheat during the Zowie eXtremesland Tournament LAN Finals in Shanghai.
ESIC can only use the stocks if a person found guilty of cheating does so when competing in an event organised by an ESIC member. Zowie doesn’t fall into this category, but the Electronic Sports League (ESL) does, and so ESIC officials asked ESL to take a close look at Kumawat’s performance at the ESL India Premiership, which India Optic won earlier this month, and boom.
From an ESIC statement:
“The evidence that emerged indicates beyond reasonable doubt that Kumawat cheated during the ESL India Premiership.”
As a result of his double crime, ESIC has banned Kumawat for five-years, after breaching a level four offence under ESIC’s Code of Conduct. The statement said that ESIC had tried to reach out to Kumawat to give him the opportunity to defend himself, but he has refused to respond.
Kumawat did respond to AFKGaming (albeit after deleting all of his social media accounts). During the interview, Kumawat came clean about the use of the cheat stating that he did it because he wanted to win every game, and wasn’t confident in his aiming (a part of the game his ‘cheat’ helped improve).
Kumawat said that he rued the day he started playing CS:GO, and would gladly delete the day he first began playing the game. Kumawat apologised to his teammates and India Optic, stating that none of them had any idea he was cheating.
“I am broken inside, but I am paying for what I did,” wrote Kumawat.
ESIC Integrity Commissioner, Ian Smith, had some harsh words for Kumawat when he said, “He {Kumawat} has caused great damage to Indian CS:GO and esports and devalued an excellent competition. There is no place in esports for cheats like Kumawat and, at a personal level, I hope we never see him back in CS:GO or any other game again.”
Maybe you should have banned him for life, then?
Luckbox Joins ESIC
Sticking with the ESIC theme, and the cryptocurrency-supported Esports sportsbook, Luckbox, has joined forces with Ian Smith and the gang. Launching in 2019, the PokerStars influenced betting platform, holds integrity and transparency as two of their most important values.
Esports commentator, Paul “Redeye” Chaloner joined the Luckbox team because he wants to see gambling grow without corruption blighting the copybook. Speaking of the move, Chaloner said that joining ESIC underlines his stance that betting in Esports can provide much-needed value, but only when done right.
Luckbox was the first cryptocurrency-supported Esports project to be awarded a top-tier gambling license in the Isle of Man.
