A new update has painted the headlines of competitive Dota, one which highlights recent insight into an alleged Dota 2 match-fixing scandal! Indeed, we’ll be breaking down this eye-catching issue in an objective manner – read on for the breakdown!

Dota 2 Match-Fixing Scandal – All the Facts

Overall, the entire story stems from everything which a Russian YouTuber and journalist revealed publically.

Namely, ‘Morf’ used his popularity to provide insight on an issue he feels strongly about – that of a Dota 2 match-fixing scandal. Doing so, the YouTuber released an extensive video detailing scandal and all the details.

The ramifications of this exposure challenge the legitimacy of certain  matches of the Dota Pro Circuit, the highest level of Dota 2 tournaments in the regions of Eastern Europe (EEU) and North America (NA).

While we won’t be able to include every single detail, the exposure involves both regions which we can tackle separately.

For both, Morf employed an agent who went undercover in a Discord server known for match-fixing, being very difficult to gain access to.

Clearly, match-fixing was being managed by a former Dota 2 coach, Anton Monetin. Specifically, he used to coach the likes of Winstrike Academy.

As a fixer, Anton provided the ‘agent’ perfect Dota 2 betting odds to bet on which seemingly always came to fruition, benefitting the coach thanks to an interest rate. Notably, certain matches had as much as 1.6 million of a particular currency on bets, doing so against other match-fixing groups

North American – Thiuth Gaming Undercover?

In NA, the likes of Thiuth Gaming allegedly purchased their spot with the intention of fixing matches due to their odd activity according to Morf’s claims.

Citing multiple NA DPC matches as being fixed, Thiuth Gaming is at the centre of it all. Implications describe the organization as having a ‘fake’ manager, where match-fixing guided the team to perform as they prefer, manipulating Dota 2 predictions.

Luckily, if the Dota community didn’t realize, esports bookmakers did and actually froze payments on occasion for bets related to the team.

In addition, multiple players related to the scandals from other teams such as Wildcard Gaming have departed from rosters and all competition.

Eastern Europe – More Former Players

Moving over to Europe, further investigation found the Eastern Europe scene also involving former players. For example, Albert “alberkaaa” Chernoivanov has been implicated in linking players from OG to the match-fixing group.

Otherwise, the ‘agent’ involved also exposed multiple players, such as Anatoly “Lefitan” Krupnov, a player who has also been accused on cheating.

Match-Fixing in Esports Betting – An Ongoing Issue?

As of right now, the resolution here appears to be Anton Monetin publically contributing to this information and expanding further on the Dota 2 match-fixing scandal.

While he disagrees on the nature of the information, it’s unfortunately true.

Accordingly, such actions have repercussions and the players and teams involved will likely have disciplinary action taken on them by the likes of Valve.

Dota 2 Match-Fixing Scandal – Creating More Awareness

Unfortunately, match-fixing scandals are nothing new in the context of the general betting industry.

Indeed, the likes of Sportradar have provided insight to this thanks to their annual report on ‘Betting, Corruption and Match-fixing in 2022’, listing the following conclusions:

• 1,212 suspicious matches flagged in 2021
• An increase of 34% from last year
• 99.5% of sports events were free from integrity threats

Clearly, this Dota 2 match-fixing scandal highlights the 0.5% of sports betting which goes south and needs to be brought to light for the betterment of the industry.

In conclusion, this scandal will likely have two repercussions. Firstly, there’ll be the reciprocated disciplinary action from Valve.

Secondly, this will act as an opportunity for the esports betting industry to rise to the challenge and raise the bar even higher.