Three ribs from the cages of Esports including Dignitas allying with Esports Entertainment, Betway adding PSG.LGD to their web of partnerships and LGD clearing house after a swathe of integrity breaches.
In the past few days, you may suspect the leaders of LGD Gaming are walking nonchalantly around the office, towels wrapped around heads, Marlboro Greens or Reds dangling from lips, as the whole place goes up in flames.
The Chinese Esports organisation has suspended League of Legends (Lol) player, Xiang “Condi” Ren-Jie, from competitive LoL matches for 18-months after admitting betting on the outcome of an LGD match during the 2019 Tencent League of Legends Pro League (LPL) Season while playing in the Chinese NEST tournament.
Ren-Jie decided to spill the butter beans after his manager, Song “Hesitate” Zi-Yang, found out about the lapse in judgment and decided to blackmail the young star into throwing matches. “Hesitate” received a lifetime ban from competitive LoL games, and LGD has terminated the contract of both.
Writing on Twitter, Ren-Jie stated that he had never tried to lose a match ‘deliberately’ despite breaking betting laws, and ‘was never involved in match-fixing.’
“I played every game to the best of my abilities, and all I was thinking about was to win.”
Joining ‘Condi’ and ‘Hesitate’ in the job queue for palm readers, prostitutes and museum doorpersons is the LGD Academy coach, Tang “1ntruder” Sheng, and player Fu “Fdy” Ding-Yuan who both had their contracts terminated after allegations of match-fixing, and LGD Live host, Kathy Chan, also got her marching orders for misconduct that breached fair competition regulations. Both Sheng and Ding-Yuan received 10-month suspensions from competitive gaming.
In a statement posted on the companies Facebook page, an LGD official said that despite their employees running amok they have a ‘zero tolerance policy for rule breaking,’ and may even pursue legal action against them.
“We take full responsibility for the management of the above-mentioned personnel and extend our sincere apologies to all fronts affected by this incident. From now on, our club will strengthen it’s self-inspection methods and accept more public supervision and outreach for the majority of players, hoping to put a permanent end to the recurrence of such incidents.”
Betway adds PSG.LGD as esports partner
The cheating scandals haven’t stopped LGD Gaming from growing their relationship with online gambling businesses after Betway announced a partnership with PSG.LGD.
PSG.LGD is the amalgamation of Dota 2 squads from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and China’s LGD Gaming, and they were the runners-up to OG in the 2018 International earning $4m.
The deal sees the Betway logo displayed on the PSG.LGD player’s jerseys and shorts. Betway is also in cahoots with Invictus Gaming and Ninjas in Pyjamas.
The deal is a particularly interesting one given Valve’s suggestion to Dota 2 teams NOT to engage in gambling sponsorship deals ahead of the 2018 International.
Dignitas partners with Esports Entertainment Group
Lastly, Esports team, Dignitas, will promote Esports Entertainment Group’s P2P online wagering site in a new deal. VIE.gg is essentially Esports version of a betting exchange, and offer action in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO), Dota 2, and Call of Duty matches amongst others. The financial scope of the deal is unknown, but it’s a multiyear partnership.
The guts and bones of Dignitas belong to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) the majority owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils and English Premier League (EPL) side Crystal Palace.
VIE.gg launched in March 2018.
