Estral Esports match fixing scandal may spread further

Estral Esports and Rainbow Six have become the center of a new match fixing scandal this week. This one that seems to pull in the entirety of an esports organization rather than a single player.

The Estral organization received bans from Ubisoft, along with some specific players. What is particularly shocking here though is the scale and scope of the scandal, upper management staff or other organizational employees have also received bans, after an organization-wide cover-up was discovered. The Estral Esports also throws some doubt onto the organization’s other teams, like their League of Legends team.

© Estral Esports

Estral Esports Match Fixing & Rainbow Six Bans

A full investigation has been launched into Estral Esports, after they were found to be engaging in match fixing in Rainbow Six. Players were found to have thrown a match in the Mexican Championship. Ubisoft have currently confirmed a single incident of match fixing, but the ramifications of it point towards a wide-spread disregard for the game’s rules.

The entire organization has been found to be involved with the Estral esports match fixing. The organization’s management put pressure on players to keep the incident private. They engaged in a team and organization wide cover up, trying particularly hard to get away with match fixing. This kind of organizational unity doesn’t exactly point to a one-off.

At the center of the Estral Esports match fixing is the player Toski. He was a part of the Estral team from April 2020 through to February 2021. He is now banned from the game. Toski is ineligible to play and banned until 2022. Wiping out a few years of his career while in his competitive prime. A big punishment, but one that’s needed when a player destabilizes an entire tournament. The big question here though, is if there are more bans to come. Interestingly, Estral released the entire R6 roster on February 3rd 2021, almost a month earlier and during the investigation.

The entire organization itself has been banned from competing in Rainbow Six. This extends beyond the team, to the board of directors and managers. In essence, Esstral Esports match fixing extended to the point where none involved are currently trusted to operate in good faith in the league.

Match fixing and throwing games invalidates the competitive integrity of an esport. It also makes a mockery out of esports betting. As esports betting has grown, so has the incentive for match fixing by those involved with the games. If you’re looking at Rainbow Six betting, it mighty be best to avoid betting on anyone formerly involved with Estral for some time. These types of punishments might seem harsh. But they’re the only way to ensure things like betting are done fairly in the future. Instead of a match with a predetermined outcome.

Estral Esports in Other Games

Estral Esports is not limited to a Rainbow Six team. The organization operates a League of Legends team that competes in the LLA (Liga Latinoamérica), and previously operated a Valorant roster that won the First Strike Latin America South.

Since the Rainbow Six Estral esports match fixing incriminated the entire organization, there might be a reason to suspect the League of Legends team too. After all, if the evidence pointed towards the management pressuring their players to throw matches.

It is likely that any suspicious action from Estral will be watched very closely in future by Riot Games as well. If you are looking into LoL betting, it would also be advisable to stay clear of Estral Esports for the time being. Finally, a company wide conspiracy to throw matches clearly does a lot of harm. It throws doubt on all of the team’s activities, not just that one player, but it also throws shade on the entire competitive esports ecosystem.

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