Valve have reinforced their policy on professional players, team managers and/or event production staff betting against eSport matches using “inside information”. Doing so could lead to players and/or teams from being banned from events that Valve are involved with.
“Betting using inside information, or even the perception or suspicion thereof, carries a significant risk of damaging your personal brand, your team, your community,” said the Valve blog “And may lead to exclusion from future Valve-sponsored events.”
Counter-Strike Global Offensive is becoming one of Valve’s most rapidly growing communities, even rivaling the growth of Dota 2. With the surge of popularity, Valve have seen fit to sponsor multiple third-party tournaments to help bolster their success. “We frequently sponsor third-party events to add to their entertainment value for viewers and broaden the audience for competitive CS:GO.” explains the blog. “To be eligible to participate in a Valve-sponsored event, players are required to follow the rules provided by that event’s organizers.”
Those rules are pretty standard stuff, shared across many of eSports biggest games, but Valve have given special mention to the high volume of CS:GO gambling taking place. “Professional players, teams, and anyone involved in the production of CS:GO events, should under no circumstances gamble on CS:GO matches,” the blog stated. “associate with high volume CS:GO gamblers, or deliver information to others that might influence their CS:GO bets.
“To clarify – as a professional player, team manager or event production staff, it is common to have personal relationships and/or privileged information about other teams and players. Because of this, we will always assume that you have access to private CS:GO-related “inside information” that might give you an unfair advantage when placing a bet on any CS:GO game or match.”
Failure to respect these rules could “lead to exclusion from future Valve-sponsored events”, for both players and teams. “Performing before an audience of millions of fans, you are ambassadors for your game” reminded Valve. “The strength of professional Counter-Strike comes from the integrity of its players and teams.”