According to the announcement on the website of the company, Sportradar Integrity Services will monitor global betting activity of Riot Games' national and international League of Legends eSports competitions and report any potential integrity issues to the company. Sportradar Integrity Services is also providing Riot Games with access as needed to its specialized Intelligence and Investigation Services unit, and the companies will work together to review the eSports organizer's future internal integrity policies, procedures and educational programs for eSports Professional Competitors.
Results manipulation has been reported on eSports since 2010 in South Korea at Starcraft Championships. And the numbers only increase.
Thus, this news only strengthens the eSports market and encourages investors. Why? With the increase of legal sports betting, it is necessary to seriously and effectively combat the manipulation of results. We must ensure that the results of disputes in the digital field are the most accurate and that the professional players have no conflict of interest.
The measure helps us understand why Riot is a leader in the eSports market. This is the kind of pro activity that ensures market leadership. Thus, the essence of sport is protected: competition, arms parity. All stakeholders benefit from the fight against financial corruption that pursues a manipulated outcome.
With the review of Riot's integrity program, major systemic refinement is expected. New measures and rules are implemented to ensure fairness of the result and fair play of the competition. Especially because in League of Legends the players are very young, which makes manipulation easier.
All this will contribute to an innovation in the fight against racism, doping, toxicity (forbidden gambling attitudes, including against women), preventing harassment, ensuring greater depth in investigations, especially when it involves concealment and money laundering, due diligence of professionals, compliance in the international transfer of professional players and, of course, combat match-fixing.
In my view, this adds to the eSports ecosystem more economic and legal security. Which reassures investors and gamblers. A lesson that traditional sport has not yet fully learned even with decades of experience. This is another lesson that eSports has given.
Filipe Alves Rodrigues, lawyer, IGIE Director, sports project consultant, served as Director General of Dreamhack Brazil, served as a lawyer at the Brazilian Olympic Committee and consultant for several Olympic Confederations in public resources, and BgC speaker.
Source: Exclusive Games Magazine Brasi
