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2 professional Valorant e-sports players charged with match-fixing offences at tournament

SINGAPORE — ​​Two professional e-sports players were charged on Friday (Aug 5) with match-fixing offences at a Valorant tournament in 2020, after organisers earlier found that they had betted against their own team.

A generic photo of an e-sports player.

A generic photo of an e-sports player.

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SINGAPORE — ​​Two professional e-sports players were charged on Friday (Aug 5) with match-fixing offences at a Valorant tournament in 2020, after organisers earlier found that they had betted against their own team.

The two Singaporeans Malcolm Chung Wai Kiat, 24, and Tan Shern Ryan, 20, face two charges each involving corruption and unlawful remote gambling.

The pair were members of team Resurgence competing in the first-person shooter video game. Chung went by the player name “Germsg” while Tan used “Dreamycsgo”.

At the Valorant Ignition Series’ Epulze Royal South East Asia Cup tournament in 2020, the Singapore-based team was set to go against Japanese team Blackbird Ignis on Sept 22.

Tan allegedly gave Chung S$3,000 to place bets on online gambling site 12Play and promised Chung part of the winnings for fixing the outcome of the match.

Resurgence lost that match to Blackbird Ignis 2-0.

Court documents stated that Tan had allegedly passed the money to Chung through a person named Brendan Tan Shuen, though it was not immediately clear whether any charges will be levelled against him.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, which brought the charges against Chung and Tan, declined to say whether charges would be brought against Brendan Tan Shuen, saying that the current case is before the courts.

After the match, match-fixing allegations surfaced and Valorant’s developer Riot Games, which runs the Valorant Ignition Series tournaments in partnership with other organisers, launched an investigation.

In a statement on June 2021, the American game developer said its investigation found that Chung had informed the rest of the Resurgence roster about his bet.

“Riot Games found that the rest of Resurgence’s roster did not want to throw the match, but purposefully concealed the issue from their management and (tournament organiser) Valorant Esports officials because they were concerned about penalties and risking their contracts with Resurgence,” it said.

Following the match, Chung tried to pay off the other team members but they rejected the payment, Riot Games said. The roster disbanded in October 2020.

Chung and Tan were banned from taking part in Valorant tournaments for 36 months, while four other teammates received suspensions of between six months and one year.

If convicted of corruption, Tan and Chung could each be fined up to S$100,000 or jailed up to five years, or both.

Anyone who gambles remotely on unapproved services in Singapore may be fined up to S$5,000 or jailed up to six months, or both.

Related topics

e-sports match fixing online gambling corruption Valorant Riot Games crime court

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