ESIC Suspends Former GODSENT Player Joel Over Match-Fixing Allegations
ESIC has issued a statement explaining why they have temporarily suspended Joel for suspected violations of the organization’s anti-corruption rule. The BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic event he participated in with GODSENT on March 27 and May 1 is where the alleged violations occurred.
The news release describes two violations. The first allegation is that between March 27 and 28, Joel bet on games he was playing in, including one that his team lost and in which Joel allegedly performed “particularly poorly.” Second, on March 29 and May 1, he wagered an additional seventeen times on CS:GO contests.
Two articles of the ESIC anti-corruption code have been broken here: those dealing with corruption and those dealing with gambling. Corrupt practices included “fixing or contriving in any way or otherwise influencing improperly [a match],” validating Joel’s suspicions about match-fixing.
In response to this report, GODSENT has issued a statement clarifying that his dismissal from the team in May was because of these claims.
“Joel’s suspension from GODSENT followed us being informed of serious allegations relating to match-fixing and betting in between March 27 and May 1, on our own and other matches, coming from relevant parties in the industry,” GODSENT stated. “As soon as we retrieved the information we immediately suspended Joel from play. Then we have been closely collaborating with ESIC in helping them build a case and collecting evidence in collaboration with third parties.”
The suspension is currently only temporary because the Rejection Order Notice, which is how ESIC effectively bans participants from competition, has not yet been finalized. A definitive declaration regarding the conclusion of ESIC’s inquiry and the length of the suspension will be issued on or after October 6. This is the deadline for Joel to provide any more proof he may have.
On August 30, ESIC contacted Joel about this second sanction, and he answered on the same day by rejecting the charges. Betting histories, digital traces like IP addresses, and connections between betting accounts and social media sites were all pieces of evidence acquired by ESIC.
Joel has addressed the charges on his own Twitter feed. On the day he received the notice of charge, August 30, he claims to have spoken with ESIC commissioner Ian Smith, who assured him “no further actions would be taken at that point in time.” He continues by saying he thinks the public pressured ESIC into taking action, that he is “willing to cooperate with ESIC,” and that he and his attorney will respond to the charges soon.
Joel has been playing competitive Counter-Strike since 2020, although he didn’t join a famous squad until he was representing Monte in 2022. He was a key member of the team during their ill-fated run at the IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR and soon after departed.
Despite being the highest-rated player on the team, the 18-year-old Swede was benched at the end of May after signing with GODSENT at the beginning of the year alongside players like Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora and William “draken” Sundin.
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