Lee Seung Hyun, a South Korean national better known by his gamer handle “Life,” was taken into custody last week for alleged ties to the latest eSports scandal regarding match fixing.
Changwon District Prosecutor’s Office issues a statement that Lee Seung Hyun had been detained. “Life,” who is only 19, is one of the youngest professional StarCraft players in the world, had been with the eSports team ZeNEX since he was 14, winning his major title at 15, and going on to win 10 professional StarCraft tournaments, including the prestigious 2014 World Championship Series.
As per the statement issued by the Korean eSports Association (KeSPA), “Since 2010, the association has worked alongside the rest of the industry to fight against the illegal betting that has continued to threaten the foundation of eSports. It is extremely regrettable that a related incident has occurred again, and we apologize to all of the fans who have shown eSports their love and support.”
In 2015, twelve people were arrested in South Korea for their connections to a fixing eSports scandal as part of the investigation into the activities of a local StarCraft 2 team “Prime.” Allegedly, “Prime” coach Park Wae-Wik and team member Choi Byeong-Heon received payments from $5,000 to $20,000 for taking part in match fixing.
If “Life” is convicted, he would most likely lose all his StarCraft 2 titles won under KeSPA’s authority, and might also get banned from participating in any future events. While not as bad as getting a prison sentence, this would probably cut the teenager’s pro-gamer career short in his prime.
We here at Betting Herald would like to take this chance to wish “Life” the best, and hope that the truth will come out in order to promote fair and competitive play, while we tentatively look forward to a time when eSports scandals would no longer dim the industry’s young and potentially wonderful future.