ESIC ban NA ESEA Advanced player for betting violations

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) have announced sanctions against former Wanted Goons player Roheen "1goon" S., barring the player from all ESIC-member events for nine months due to betting violations.

The Rejection Order by ESIC comes after an investigation by the commission found that the player had bet "on the tournament events in which he was a participant" which is a violation of ESIC's Anti-Corruption Code item 2.2.1. Additionally, by failing to report the breach to ESIC, 1goon also ran afoul of item 2.4.5, which enforces a fiduciary duty on players to report potential breaches to ESIC's Anti-Corruption Code.

Dust2.us understands that ESIC's investigation into 1goon began after former teammates reported the player to ESIC with credible evidence of 1goon attempting to bet on matches in at least ESEA Advanced Season 48. This led to an investigation by ESIC which uncovered "undeniable evidence from live game footage and verified screenshots of communications with betting operators," leading to the player's ban.

While 1goon is a minor player even within North America, his ban is the latest in an uptick of activity from ESIC, with Erkhan "gokushima" Bagynanov and a quartet of Ukrainian players also being sanctioned by ESIC in the past six months. The uptick in resolved cases by the commission comes after the body has previously faced sharp criticism for mismanagement of multiple cases, a perceived slow pace of investigation, and a lack of resources following their massive ban wave for the "coach bug" back in 2020.

For North America in particular, 1goon is only the fourth player from the region to be sanctioned by ESIC in Counter-Strike, with Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly, Sebastian "retchy" Tropiano, and Kevin "4pack" Przypasniak being the previous recipients of an ESIC ban all the way back in 2021.

To date, ESIC's investigation of matchfixing in ESEA Premier is still touted as ongoing, albeit with no update since August 2021.