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Seangares Drops Exposé on NA Match-Fixing Scandal
In a highly anticipated follow-up to Sean “seangares” Gares’ video last week, the Shopify Rebellion General Manager has now made good on his promise to begin naming names in what he refers to, as an ongoing underground betting ring centred around VALORANT’s Tier 2 scene – specifically the North American Challengers League (NA VCL).
“[They] are targeting vulnerable, inexperienced, desperate players to throw matches and to cheat. … life changing money, tens of thousands of dollars just to throw a single game, while these people are also profiting hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The Names Are Beginning to Drop
As of Sean Gares’ video, we have 3 official confirmations for teams currently competing in the NA VCL who are actively participating in the betting ring. They are Prosperity Esports, Burger Boyz, and Blue Otter.
It is unknown at this time if the entire team has been compromised, or it remains sole individuals within the team who are the instruments of their own team’s ‘misfortunes’. The investigation was greatly enabled by the assistance of Morgan “TEAGUE” Teague of Landor and Christopher “practo” Ryu of Burger Boyz - both of whom Sean thanked profusely.
The general premise of this betting ring as explained in the video, revolves around fixing match results to maximise return profits on bets. This is done through representatives who approach players with compelling offers of monumental payouts – for the low price of their integrity.
Bray, a high-ranked player within the North American ranked scene, is the first named ‘representative’ in Sean’s exposé. (Note: since the video dropped several hours ago, the twitter handle @1ofbray is no longer active and the account appears to have been deleted).
As seen in the screenshot above, massive amounts of money are moving hands and generally all the players have to do to contribute and ‘earn’ their winnings, is underperform. Sometimes for a series, but typically for a map. The final screenshot illustrates over $130,000 USD bet on the 2nd map of a series (a single map), with an estimated return of over $230,000 USD.
Who is Behind this Underground Betting Ring?
Figures like Bray would be bad enough for the scene. Young, ambitious, and looking to make a quick dollar regardless of ethics.
However, the rabbit hole goes deeper.
Sean goes on to show that Bray isn't even close to the mastermind of the operation. He's also being used - by crypto groups. The second big name to drop is @CookerFlips, founder of @PastelAlpha, a crypto trading group that offers trading advice.
(Note: CookerFlips has denied all allegations placed on him in the video and has offered to chat with Seangares in hopes of clearing his name).
Provided screenshots prove that CookerFlips, while virtually uninterested in playing VALORANT, placed continuous substantial bets on VALORANT Challenger games of all things, turning over profits as high as $11,000+ in a Burger Boyz series (coincidence I'm sure). He would then place legitimate bets on VALORANT Tier 1 games - albeit with much smaller amounts (see Screenshot 2). The suspicion is that CookerFlips has been 'washing' the money and disguising his sizeable earnings with smaller legitimate ones, as well as continous money giveaways on X.com.
Cooker is only one name in this conspiracy that continues to dive. Undoubtedly many more in this network space have also seen a gray area ripe for profit in the Challengers Space.
A Dying Scene Breeding Pestilence
Note: This marks the end of my cover and analysis of Sean Gares' exposé. From this point onwards, my words are my own and do not represent the opinions of Strafe Esports as an organization.
It is without doubt that Tier 2 VALORANT is in dire straits. The once vibrant assembly of organizations and hopefuls has turned depressing and jaded. Key bottlenecks in VALORANT's competitive ecosystem has left the lower tier teams and players vulnerable to predators such as Bray and Cooker.
In the second part of Sean Gares' video, he reviews several suspicious games, flagging odd behaviour and decision-making from several players in attendance. Nothing has currently been confirmed but suspicion has already been growing in the Tier 2 scene amongst the honest and Sean's exposé will undoubtedly ignite further tensions and suspicions among the shrinking player pool.
As with any competitive esport title, the Tier 2 scene forms the bedrock and pillar of the talent funnel. Without it, the highest echelon of competition will, without doubt, shrink within a short period. Exciting new players continue to emerge from Tier 2 each Split and it is the duty of the community - if we wish to continue enjoying competitive VALORANT - to gatekeep our sacred halls from these predators.
It will not be an easy fix but it is a necessary one. As Sean alludes to in his video, the advent of the long-awaited Replay System may be the very tool needed to fight this scourge. The ability to properly review suspicious games will go a long way towards addressing these uncertainties, and seal off the more plentiful opportunities for matchfixing and cheating.
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Featured Image Credit: Sean Gares YouTube
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