It didn't take long after the introduction of skins for North America to create a betting group dedicated to beating the bookies. Over time it became the number one match-fixing hub.
Thank you Richard for continuing to expose this eternally burning garbage pit of a scene. Having grown up around the time described in the article, situations like these (even with the little information available to the layman at the time) are what drove me to avoid betting in sports as a concept. It's nice to finally achieve vindication in knowing that my analysis of the situation at the time was more or less correct, and that had I continued betting, I would have lost a lot of money based on outcomes that were predetermined.
Great article Richard. I was a massive follower of the pro scene at that point and going deep in analysis with my friends. When Lounge showed up on the scene, we started placing small bets (talking about 1-2 euros) as we were highschool students with barely any money. One of my friends managed to gather about 20 euros together and started placing larger bets, going up to almost a thousand euros in a month. Then we started seeing a change that we could not explain. Mid tier teams losing in strange ways. Our "analysis" was not always perfectly accurate, but never completely wrong. After he lost about half his money he smartly cashed out. I lost the only knife i ever owned (Gut Safary Mesh) to a Gambit match with a random team that had a 20% chance of winning. I just wanted to get a couple more skins so I can trade to a Bayonet and peace out. I feel somewhat vindicated reading these and still salty for that Gambit game. Can't wait to read the rest of the saga!
“For example, we learned that Zeus was tilted prior to a match where Na’Vi was an overdog in a BO1 on Dust2, which at the time, pretty much guaranteed them a loss.”
As someone who used lounge casually, this was so true. Betting the uderdog against NaVi overdog then seeing him rage on the broadcast felt so good because I could feel confident that I won my bet
Very interesting series. Made me subscribe to support your work. First time for me paying for solo work, but the integrity you offer is truly one of a kind.
Thank you Richard for continuing to expose this eternally burning garbage pit of a scene. Having grown up around the time described in the article, situations like these (even with the little information available to the layman at the time) are what drove me to avoid betting in sports as a concept. It's nice to finally achieve vindication in knowing that my analysis of the situation at the time was more or less correct, and that had I continued betting, I would have lost a lot of money based on outcomes that were predetermined.
Great article Richard. I was a massive follower of the pro scene at that point and going deep in analysis with my friends. When Lounge showed up on the scene, we started placing small bets (talking about 1-2 euros) as we were highschool students with barely any money. One of my friends managed to gather about 20 euros together and started placing larger bets, going up to almost a thousand euros in a month. Then we started seeing a change that we could not explain. Mid tier teams losing in strange ways. Our "analysis" was not always perfectly accurate, but never completely wrong. After he lost about half his money he smartly cashed out. I lost the only knife i ever owned (Gut Safary Mesh) to a Gambit match with a random team that had a 20% chance of winning. I just wanted to get a couple more skins so I can trade to a Bayonet and peace out. I feel somewhat vindicated reading these and still salty for that Gambit game. Can't wait to read the rest of the saga!
We are lucky that someone, like the legend that is RL, is in a position to expose and document even 1% of the massive eSports rigging sector.
“For example, we learned that Zeus was tilted prior to a match where Na’Vi was an overdog in a BO1 on Dust2, which at the time, pretty much guaranteed them a loss.”
As someone who used lounge casually, this was so true. Betting the uderdog against NaVi overdog then seeing him rage on the broadcast felt so good because I could feel confident that I won my bet
Great information, crazy to see names we haven't seen in a long time.
let me know if you want to chat
Would love to. Drop me a DM on Twitter or through Discord.
Small detail but "Henryz" is Hendralisk, former Starcraft 2 pro player
https://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/Hendralisk
Love your work in all volumes. Thank you for your time.
Very interesting series. Made me subscribe to support your work. First time for me paying for solo work, but the integrity you offer is truly one of a kind.