Riot Games has opened an investigation this week following reports a League of Legends series was thrown, with matches at the North American Challenger League Spring promotion under particular scrutiny.
Numerous players are believed to be involved in the case, according to initial Sept. 5 reports from League journalist Sander Hove. While exact details regarding the case have not been verified at this time, it is believed a player in question may have placed a sizeable bet on their opponent before entering the Rift.
Hove suggests Riot is particularly focused on both qualifying series featuring Supernova, who fell from their upper bracket qualifying match against LiT and then went down in a series sweep to Mirage to officially drop from the NACL top-flight.
The League squad finished ninth during the regular NACL season, and with its subsequent promotion losses, now find themselves out of the league altogether.
It has been alleged that, during their qualifying match drafts, a Supernova player deafened their communications and locked in a random champion, deviating from the game plan. Multiple instances of this uncommon mistake happened in both the LiT and Mirage series.
Whether or not this occurred due to any match fixing plans is unclear; given the resources at Riot’s disposal in regard to verifying any bets made on the match, a thorough investigation by the developer will likely yield the truth. Dot Esports has reached out to Riot for comment but has received no communication at the time of publishing.
It comes at a dark time for the NACL which saw top orgs withdraw from the second division following Riot’s decision to scrap mandatory participation in the league. Only three of the 10 LCS teams held their NACL rosters for the summer split.
The LCS Players Association (LCSPA) ended up staging a walkout, voting unanimously to threaten strike action ahead of the LCS season launch in June. Both eventually agreed to terms just days before the split was to commence, with Riot reaffirming their commitment to the amateur North American League scene.
Should Riot confirm this case involved match fixing, it’s a terrible mark on the second tier that was just beginning to find its feet once again. It would be far from the first case of match fixing in League, however, with notable cases in the LPL and PCS, the latter seeing a player banned from competing while at the 2021 World Championships.
