ESPORTS SECURE What can be done to ensure the integrity of
eSports matches and the corresponding impact on wagering? Watson: “Our particular focus is on match fixing and manipulation. We developed our technology specifically for eSports and specifically to work with ESL. Our hope is that other stakeholders in the ecosystem will. This monitoring and detection takes care of the reactive side of integrity. On the proactive side, we believe education and workshops with players will help in preventing the problems before they arise. Many of the players, even at the professional level, are quite young and naïve. Some of these players don’t realize the seriousness of what they are getting into and as such we believe education is the best approach in conjunction with proper monitoring.”
Some people say that the fact that the “game” is
played in an electronic/virtual environment, the game lends itself more to cheating. Is this true in your opinion? Watson: “If you are talking about cheating to lose then I believe that the skin betting market is a very unique threat to eSports. What isn’t unique is that you still need the participation of the players to pull it off. Match-fixers are notoriously good at convincing players across all sports to throw matches. It is much easier for these conmen when they are dealing with young and impressionable people so there must be a high and constant level of vigilance to prevent this.”
What technology currently exists to detect cheating in eSports? Can you describe this? What type of anti-cheating mechanisms are employed by the various publishers. Are they effective? Watson: “For cheating to win, the publishers utilize various anti-cheating technologies. Valve for example has done a good job in using their systems
to prevent cheating. In regards to cheating to lose, fraud detection systems are used as well as monitoring the many various bookmakers and their odds using mathematical algorithms that pick up suspicious activity. Thereafter, a second level of analysis is employed where analysts look at the odds data to determine if it is truly suspicious or just a normal anomaly in the betting activity. Ultimately all the information gathered is provided to the tournament organizer and they can decide whether sanctions are warranted. Sport rights holders and competition organisers are also now increasingly undertaking investigations in parallel with relevant law enforcement agencies, and we envision this trend will also materialise in the esports space sooner rather than later.”
Some people say that the cheating scandals in
eSports present a major barrier to the sport’s move into the mainstream. In your opinion, is there a need for an international governing body (like KESPA in Korea) to provide some sort of oversight? Watson: “It is natural to assume that the
traditional international or regional federation is critical to ensure oversight of scandals. Indeed, we work with the likes of the IIHF, World Rugby and UEFA. But conscientious stakeholders in the existing ecosystem are already taking the lead. What ESL is doing with us is another route towards oversight and preventing cheating. The growth of eSports has been quite organic and for the past 20 years it has grown without real oversight. No doubt there is tension between the camps with the two opposing views (those that see a need for an international oversight body and those that don’t), but ultimately preventing fraud and match fixing is the ultimate goal of both approaches. “On the integrity side you may want a centralized
78 MAY 2016
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