HCG Masters CSGO story evolves – Potential match fixing detected

CS:GO
May 25, 2022
Jordan Ashley

The HCG Masters was a CSGO tournament that run back in April, and it went pretty badly. In its inaugural series, the tournament ended up getting postponed mid-way through the event. This left staff unpaid, but it now looks like even more may have gone wrong at the HCG Masters.

After some investigations, some are now suggesting that that HCG Masters betting activity is pointing towards match fixing going down at the tournament too.

HCG Masters CSGO

HCG Masters Recapped

The HCG Masters was a CSGO tournament hoping to become a regular part of the competitive catalog, but a lot went wrong. Before the finals, the organizers basically ran out of money. They had a sponsor pull out and didn’t have the cash around to continue running their event. This led to delays and some bad problems for those who had worked for the event.

A lot of people working on the tournament didn’t get paid, a problem which seems to have stretched on quite a bit after postponing. While some staff are now getting paid, it’s been months since the event before any action has actually been taken. Basically, this event turned into a bit of a disaster. For an organizer hoping to make their mark in CSGO, this was a complete mess.

In the time since the HCG Masters though, some more issues have been raised. Some HCG Masters betting activity has suggested some potentially major problems about the event and apparently added another layer to its chaos.

HCG Masters Suspicious Betting Activity

The HCG Masters began back in February. It was matches this far back that seem to be the start of the problems here. A match between HeroCity and CC Oglum was won 20 to 1. This match saw a significant number of suspicious bets being placed backing HeroCity.

During a Koalas and Masonic match, more betting activity went on. Koalas went into the match with a stand-in, but this news wasn’t public ahead of time. This means that the esports odds didn’t reflect the change and punters had the opportunity to cash in on this in the right circumstances. This match also saw quite a lot of betting activity, although part of this could be done to fans jumping onto an opportunity quicker than bookmakers can change their odds. With two incidents taking place so quickly, this has raised some questions about the event.

After this second occasion, Grid Esports asked for the audio of the matches before ditching HCG Masters. Betting activity isn’t an indication entirely of match fixing, but with Grid dropping HCG Masters after it this is concerning. The tournament continued after these incidents, and it doesn’t seem much was done to check these events. The tournament went ahead regardless, at least until organizers couldn’t pay staff anymore.

HCG Masters – What Went Wrong?

The CEO of Masonic, the company behind HCG, has said they had no part in match fixing. They made some defenses of the tournament. They are now making their own investigations of everything that happened. Between both the actual event losing steam before it’s concluded and potential match-fixing, there is little going in the tournament’s favor. With all of this, most might be avoiding tournaments from these organizers in the future.