Malaysian Dota 2 team, Arrow Gaming, has been formally disqualified from the prestigious Summit 2 tournament. The ruling was enforced after tournament organisers Beyond the Summit, and betting site Dota 2 Lounge, had investigated allegations of match fixing – where affiliates of the team had placed high value bets against them.
“We have no choice but to remove Arrow Gaming from The Summit 2.” said BTS ldDota. “We hope other organizers will take evidence of match-fixing seriously, as it’s absolute poison for the scene.”
The team came under scrutiny after reddit user /u/PacificRen posted his own extensive and detailed investigation of multiple match-fixing incidents; the latest of which involves Arrow Gaming in their match against Australian team “Can’t Say Wips” in the Synergy League.
“While CSW has been on a streak heading into the match, Arrow was still the favorite.” said Ren. “Synergy league has a forgiving format, with the top four teams of the eight-team group advancing into the next stage. That match was further investigated, and it has shown a number of new accounts which has high bets on this match and the several fixed matches that was mentioned earlier”
Two of the large bets against Arrow Gaming were found to be placed by two girlfriends of Arrow Gaming team members, ddz and Lance.
With Ren’s investigation and with communication between Dota 2 Lounge, BTS formally decided to disqualify Arrow Gaming from their Summit 2 tournament. The decision came in the middle of an untimely match between Arrow Gaming and Invasion; you can listen to the reaction in the VOD below at around the 26 minute mark.
BTS were disappointed to say the least by the outcome. “Based on Ren’s investigation and our own research, we have no choice but to remove Arrow Gaming from The Summit 2.” said BTS ldDOTA. “We hope other organizers will take evidence of match-fixing seriously, as it’s absolute poison for the scene.
“As someone who’s been casting SEA Dota and intimately involved in the scene for 3 years, this is heartbreaking for me and the rest of the BTS crew. SEA Dota has struggled to keep up with the exploding Western and Chinese scenes already, but this type of unethical behavior is a huge turnoff to potential sponsors, organizers, and teams and will undoubtedly drag the scene down even further.”
Arrow Gaming released the following statement about the scandal on their Facebook page:
“Our management is at the moment investigating and contacting relevant parties regarding this accusation involving two players from Arrow Gaming in the ”322” scandal. Pertaining to this matter, should an Arrow player be proven guilty of such unethical work engagement, it will not be tolerated by our management and strict actions will be enforced.”