Starcraft player helped rig game, police say
At a Starcraft Proleague match at e-Sports stadium in Yongsan, Seoul, March 2012, professional players from CJ Group (yellow) leave the stage after losing to KT. / Korea Times file
By Ko Dong-hwan
A South Korean professional online gamer and an illegal online betting site operator have been caught rigging a Starcraft match, police say.
Busan Yeonje Police said Thursday they booked without arrest the e-sports player, 24, whose name was withheld, for agreeing with the operator to take part in the rigging. Police said the player intentionally lost his quarterfinal during a competition that was part of “G-STAR 2017” in November 2017 at BEXCO, Busan. He reportedly received 4.5 million won ($4,200).
Police also arrested the alleged operator, 26, who they said earned 15 million won from the rigged game.
The operator is also charged with running an illegal sports betting site. He allegedly hired four staff, each for 4 million won a month, to operate the site with pool money worth 10 billion won.
They worked from apartment suites, or officetels, with up to 12 computers, moving across city districts ― including Yeonje-gu, Yeonsang-dong, Busanjin-gu and Haeundae-gu ― to avoid police.
Police said the operator had earned 500 million won from the site.
Police say the alleged player also planned to rig a match in the AfreecaTV Starcraft League (ASL) Season 5 that began on Mar. 11 and runs until May.
ASL released an apology on Friday, confirming that a police investigation was ongoing.
“Once the allegation is confirmed, the player will be banned for life from all e-sports events hosted by AfreecaTV, and his prize money will be confiscated,” said South Korea's popular online broadcasting platform.
Busan Yeonje Police previously investigated another operator of an illegal online betting site with pool money worth 50 billion won, with suite servers believed to be in China.