The progaming gambling scandal has drawn national media attention. KBS, MBC, YTN, and SBS (Four of the top broadcasting companies in Korea) have all had segments on news broadcasts over the weekend covering the hot topic of the progaming scandal. See what they have to say about the topic.
Credits to l10f for subbing and others for shedding light onto the situation.
KBS
MBC
YTN
SBS (No video, just translation)
서울중앙지검 첨단 범죄수사 2부는 스타크래프트 게이머들을 매수해 승부를 조작한 뒤 불법 도박사이트에서 거액의 배당금을 챙긴 혐의로 25살 박모 씨를 구속기소했습니다.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office arrested Mr. Park for fixing progaming matches and making profits from illegal betting sites.
또 게이머들에게 승부 조작에 가담하도록 연결해 준 현직 프로게이머 2명을 불구속기소하고 승부를 조작해준 게이머 6명은 벌금 200만~500만원에 약식기소했습니다.
Also, two progamers that connected Mr. Park to other progamers were prosecuted without arrest, and 6 progamers that participated in match fixing were fined from $2000~$5000.
게이머 양성학원 운영자인 박 씨는 지명수배된 조직폭력배 김모 씨와 함께 지난해 9월부터 올 2월까지 경기에 출전하는 게이머들에게 건당 200만에서 650만원씩을 주고 경기에서 고의로 지도록 한 혐의를 받고 있습니다.
Mr. Park, who owned a gaming academy, worked with Mr. Kim, a wanted organized gang member, to fix progaming matches between September of last year to February of this year by giving progamers $2000~$6500 to lose their matches.
I thank you all for bringing this to us the non korean speaking members of TL. Wow 83,000 for Mr. Park off of 9 games, that's pretty good, is the theory that these numbers are understated true, because 83k is alot O_O. User's heart is breaking even more
On May 18 2010 14:04 unionbank wrote: what will this mean for the sponsors? are we going to see a sponsorless starleague? this isn't sounding to great.
thankfully the players involved aren't that important to a sponsorship point these days (honestly who gives a fuck about savior/justin)
if it were taekbang leessang (bisu/stork/jaedong/flash), we'd have huge problems.
On May 18 2010 14:04 unionbank wrote: what will this mean for the sponsors? are we going to see a sponsorless starleague? this isn't sounding to great.
thankfully the players involved aren't that important to a sponsorship point these days (honestly who gives a fuck about savior/justin)
if it were taekbang leessang (bisu/stork/jaedong/flash), we'd have huge problems.
On May 18 2010 14:10 DivinO wrote: YTN mentioned a Mr. Jung as a progamer. Excuse me if I've missed out on another thread that told us this but who could Mr. Jung be?
i searched up progamers with jung as surname and got thezerg, fantasy and haran.
thezerg and haran seems impossible, and if its fantasy there's a bit of trouble for skt...
On May 18 2010 14:10 DivinO wrote: YTN mentioned a Mr. Jung as a progamer. Excuse me if I've missed out on another thread that told us this but who could Mr. Jung be?
i searched up progamers with jung as surname and got thezerg, fantasy and haran.
thezerg and haran seems impossible, and if its fantasy there's a bit of trouble for skt...
If that's the case, Oov (perhaps even Boxer) might immediately resign.
That's more than just "a bit of trouble".
On the other hand, Fantasy is still playing in the PL normally and shows no hint of trouble in his winner interviews. I doubt he is under investigation.
Face it, if even Justin can afford to throw what few games that were allocated to him, why not thezerg or haran?
wow thanks for the translations. this... is sad. Mr. Ma is everywhere... his legacy forever tainted, and though its not necessarily fair to discredit his victories (because you can't be paid to lose and win), it will still happen, and Mr. Ma will go down in progaming as 'that criminal'. What a way to fall.
On May 18 2010 14:39 Xxio wrote: The MBC one says "told the other player their strategies", how would that have worked? A little suspicious.
Who knows?
And also, there is an SBS one that we couldn't get a raw for, but this is how it goes, since it has some information that the three others don't.
서울중앙지검 첨단 범죄수사 2부는 스타크래프트 게이머들을 매수해 승부를 조작한 뒤 불법 도박사이트에서 거액의 배당금을 챙긴 혐의로 25살 박모 씨를 구속기소했습니다.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office arrested Mr. Park for fixing progaming matches and making profits from illegal betting sites.
또 게이머들에게 승부 조작에 가담하도록 연결해 준 현직 프로게이머 2명을 불구속기소하고 승부를 조작해준 게이머 6명은 벌금 200만~500만원에 약식기소했습니다.
Also, two progamers that connected Mr. Park to other progamers were prosecuted without arrest, and 6 progamers that participated in match fixing were fined from $2000~$5000.
게이머 양성학원 운영자인 박 씨는 지명수배된 조직폭력배 김모 씨와 함께 지난해 9월부터 올 2월까지 경기에 출전하는 게이머들에게 건당 200만에서 650만원씩을 주고 경기에서 고의로 지도록 한 혐의를 받고 있습니다.
Mr. Park, who owned a gaming academy, worked with Mr. Kim, a wanted organized gang member, to fix progaming matches between September of last year to February of this year by giving progamers $2000~$6500 to lose their matches.
On May 18 2010 14:39 Xxio wrote: The MBC one says "told the other player their strategies", how would that have worked? A little suspicious.
From: Hwasin To: Luxury
Hey, I'm going to BBS, make sure you 12 hatch, kkthx
Or maybe they meant that the player purposely let his opponent scout his build (or placed his buildings/units in a way that would make it easier to scout). Or maybe it was just the editorial staff being a bit hazy at MBC :/
On May 18 2010 16:10 Robinsa wrote: Did they just get fines!? Sounds like korea is a bit soft on stuff like this..
This ruins their reputation and their esports careers for good. They all spent 3+ years of 10-12 hours a day on this. Most of them didn't finish highschool, or get any work experience meanwhile, and now they will be shunned by the one field they dedicated so many years on (including possible followup jobs in coaching/broadcasting).
On May 18 2010 14:39 Xxio wrote: The MBC one says "told the other player their strategies", how would that have worked? A little suspicious.
2 sunken no ring
The weird part wasn't how can they communicate, it was that talking to your opponent like that means he's gotta be in on the scam.
Since it only takes 1 to lose, and not all players were involved in the match throwing scam, this wouldn't have worked. Besides, if you were running this scam, why would you pay 2 players to collaborate on 1 of them losing when you only need to pay off 1 to lose.
As such, this statement could have meant letting your opponent scout you to see your build on purpose, and then have it countered and lose.
Mr. Ma proves he's more than just a starcraft nerd. He's fking spectacular in everything he does, taking by surprise his opponents(also his fanboys lol).
On May 18 2010 14:04 unionbank wrote: what will this mean for the sponsors? are we going to see a sponsorless starleague? this isn't sounding to great.
thankfully the players involved aren't that important to a sponsorship point these days (honestly who gives a fuck about savior/justin)
if it were taekbang leessang (bisu/stork/jaedong/flash), we'd have huge problems.
Bisu not so much. Agree with the rest thou.
Bisu still plays man. And he has a lot of fans, and propably more female fans than savior ever had.
On May 18 2010 14:10 DivinO wrote: YTN mentioned a Mr. Jung as a progamer. Excuse me if I've missed out on another thread that told us this but who could Mr. Jung be?
i searched up progamers with jung as surname and got thezerg, fantasy and haran.
thezerg and haran seems impossible, and if its fantasy there's a bit of trouble for skt...
If that's the case, Oov (perhaps even Boxer) might immediately resign.
That's more than just "a bit of trouble".
On the other hand, Fantasy is still playing in the PL normally and shows no hint of trouble in his winner interviews. I doubt he is under investigation.
Face it, if even Justin can afford to throw what few games that were allocated to him, why not thezerg or haran?
I'm pretty sure I've already seen thezerg listed in one of these threads
damn .. funny and sad at the same time .. the next scandal will be steroids and/or players committing adultery or having sex scandals .. and that will make SC pro scene a true SPORT .. :D
On May 18 2010 16:55 Scaramanga wrote: That game on the YTN report is this game if anyone is intrested
The strange thing is Gogo would most likely have lost to light anyway? :/
OMG. URR SOOO RIGHTTT... would players be paid to lose games even though they suck/slumping? greedy go.go trying to earn a few bucks here and there : S
Based on his cyworld msgs, go.go's fans are mostly sympathetic, upset but sympathetic. I guess you have idiots like go.go trying to make a fast buck and then you have jackasses like Savior who actually helped organise this match-fixing ring by bringing more players into the fold.
go.go will probably get away with a hefty fine. Savior I'm expecting a suspended jail sentence.
On May 18 2010 14:04 unionbank wrote: what will this mean for the sponsors? are we going to see a sponsorless starleague? this isn't sounding to great.
thankfully the players involved aren't that important to a sponsorship point these days (honestly who gives a fuck about savior/justin)
if it were taekbang leessang (bisu/stork/jaedong/flash), we'd have huge problems.
Actually, I'd be more concerned.
Remember, players represent their teams. No matter how you slice it, Savior = CJ, Justin = Hite, etc. Things like this is literally enough for korean corporations to drop their sponsorships for their teams next season.
On May 18 2010 13:52 Megalisk wrote: I thank you all for bringing this to us the non korean speaking members of TL. Wow 83,000 for Mr. Park off of 9 games, that's pretty good, is the theory that these numbers are understated true, because 83k is alot O_O. User's heart is breaking even more
User was temp banned for this post.
Lol i'm sorry for being off topic but whoever did the user's heart is breaking even more is so witty and cute<-- in a manly way......okay no but it was hilarious
On May 18 2010 14:04 unionbank wrote: what will this mean for the sponsors? are we going to see a sponsorless starleague? this isn't sounding to great.
thankfully the players involved aren't that important to a sponsorship point these days (honestly who gives a fuck about savior/justin)
if it were taekbang leessang (bisu/stork/jaedong/flash), we'd have huge problems.
Actually, I'd be more concerned.
Remember, players represent their teams. No matter how you slice it, Savior = CJ, Justin = Hite, etc. Things like this is literally enough for korean corporations to drop their sponsorships for their teams next season.
On May 18 2010 14:04 unionbank wrote: what will this mean for the sponsors? are we going to see a sponsorless starleague? this isn't sounding to great.
thankfully the players involved aren't that important to a sponsorship point these days (honestly who gives a fuck about savior/justin)
if it were taekbang leessang (bisu/stork/jaedong/flash), we'd have huge problems.
Actually, I'd be more concerned.
Remember, players represent their teams. No matter how you slice it, Savior = CJ, Justin = Hite, etc. Things like this is literally enough for korean corporations to drop their sponsorships for their teams next season.
On May 18 2010 14:10 DivinO wrote: YTN mentioned a Mr. Jung as a progamer. Excuse me if I've missed out on another thread that told us this but who could Mr. Jung be?
Jung, Jeong, or Chung is the fifth most common last name (I think, after Kim Lee Park Choi) in Korea. TLPD's a little buggy right now so it's hard to check, but there has to be dozens of them. It would be a bit difficult to pinpoint anyone just based on that information.
edit: Just re-read the front page news article by Konadora, and it says Mr. Jung is a K3 pro soccer player.
On May 18 2010 16:11 justiceknight wrote: i wonder how did gogo rigged the game by
destroying bisu 2 times in OSL trying to win/lose in the re-re-re-rematch
honestly this question sucks. If you get to a higher point in starleague your matches are obviously worth more betting wise. If he won his games with bisu in qualifiers he could throw matches in higher rounds in order to up the betting pool for the fixed gambling.
On May 18 2010 21:55 Jathin wrote: If I find out IdrA wasn't actually losing but instead throwing all his matches I'm quitting SC.
Edit: that's actually an interesting thought. IdrA was in the CJ house while this was going down. Has he made any statement about all this yet?
Not to insult IdrA or anything, but I seriously doubt he is considered good enough by Korean standards to be able to turn a hefty profit through match fixing. At least players like Savior, Hwasin, go.go etc. played in high profile games that would allow them to get a large amount of money. Besides, if IdrA was in it for the money, he would have been better off going back home to the US then staying in Korea. I am preety sure he earned more money through winning foreigner events then he did through his progaming salary.
I know you weren't implying that he was, but I just thought it wise to discredit the theory upfront before people would get any ideas.
Anyway, this issue makes me wonder if these progamers, now that they tarnished their reputation in the Brood War scene, will try their luck in SC2. Since SC2 (currently) isn't under KeSPA's jurisdiction, they currently have no say in who plays the game professionally. However, I certainly hope they will not be allowed to do so. The last thing a fledging SC2 scene needs is to be negatively marked by cheaters and frauds, just like Brood War was in the early days.
lol at people who say fine is too soft. Should they go to prison or something? Disqualifying would be right way to do it. It's not like the tortured someone for money.
On May 18 2010 14:04 unionbank wrote: what will this mean for the sponsors? are we going to see a sponsorless starleague? this isn't sounding to great.
thankfully the players involved aren't that important to a sponsorship point these days (honestly who gives a fuck about savior/justin)
if it were taekbang leessang (bisu/stork/jaedong/flash), we'd have huge problems.
Actually, I'd be more concerned.
Remember, players represent their teams. No matter how you slice it, Savior = CJ, Justin = Hite, etc. Things like this is literally enough for korean corporations to drop their sponsorships for their teams next season.
since when did justin = hite?
He's hite just like Sacsri = Wongjin stars.
when he said savior= cj and jsutin= hite i figured he meant in terms of the player u think of when u hear that team, not just a player on the team.
On May 19 2010 03:22 Dagorath wrote: lol at people who say fine is too soft. Should they go to prison or something? Disqualifying would be right way to do it. It's not like the tortured someone for money.
Yeah right, scamming huge loads of money and even doing it through already illegal ways definitely shouldn't get you to jail. What the fuck? You can't let the progamers freeroll, you need to set examples so future progamers will not be as ready to do it.
I'd be disgusted if the main people behind this get out with a fine.
On May 19 2010 03:22 Dagorath wrote: lol at people who say fine is too soft. Should they go to prison or something? Disqualifying would be right way to do it. It's not like the tortured someone for money.
Yeah right, scamming huge loads of money and even doing it through already illegal ways definitely shouldn't get you to jail. What the fuck? You can't let the progamers freeroll, you need to set examples so future progamers will not be as ready to do it.
I'd be disgusted if the main people behind this get out with a fine.
I hope for them they don't go in jail. I fear they do.
Not that I excuse them in anyway. But thinking that someone will go in jail will never make me happy. Especially if he is not dangerous.
"Example" argument is bullshit. If criminals were thinking twice before doing something wrong because the penalty is bigger, the most repressive countries would be the safest. It happens to be exactly the opposite.
Well I think we need to look at the purpose of prison. Just because you break a law doesn't automatically mean you should be sent there. Each case is unique and depending on the particular situation, we have plenty of different options available to us. Given the fact that this was primarily a financial crime, of course confiscating all assets gained from the illicit activities is a given. But seeing as how for most of the people involved, there's no reason to believe that they would pose a danger to society, I don't see why some form of house arrest or community service wouldn't be considered along with a hefty fine.
Jail these days isn't so much meant to be a form of punishment as a method of keeping the offending individual out of the community. Seeing as it's rather unlikely that someone like Savior will continue to commit the same crime or another crime, there's really little reason to put him in prison. As for some of the organizers, there would be more of a reason there simply because of the reports of them using threats to manipulate the gamers as well as the fact that organizing this kind of activity is something they could easily do again if they were back in society. I understand that you may be offended by this course of events and the scandal, but don't let that color your beliefs in regard to what the punishment should be. Justice should be reasonable and thoughtful, not vengeful.
On May 19 2010 03:50 JinMaikeul wrote: Well I think we need to look at the purpose of prison. Just because you break a law doesn't automatically mean you should be sent there. Each case is unique and depending on the particular situation, we have plenty of different options available to us. Given the fact that this was primarily a financial crime, of course confiscating all assets gained from the illicit activities is a given. But seeing as how for most of the people involved, there's no reason to believe that they would pose a danger to society, I don't see why some form of house arrest or community service wouldn't be considered along with a hefty fine.
Jail these days isn't so much meant to be a form of punishment as a method of keeping the offending individual out of the community. Seeing as it's rather unlikely that someone like Savior will continue to commit the same crime or another crime, there's really little reason to put him in prison. As for some of the organizers, there would be more of a reason there simply because of the reports of them using threats to manipulate the gamers as well as the fact that organizing this kind of activity is something they could easily do again if they were back in society. I understand that you may be offended by this course of events and the scandal, but don't let that color your beliefs in regard to what the punishment should be. Justice should be reasonable and thoughtful, not vengeful.
Hmm, I don't agree. It's much more complex than that. Jail is the punishment in our societies (think that in most society you had a shotload of very creative punishments that we have let aside).
I don't know how sever Korean justice is and what there policy is towards this kind of crime. It's really dependant on each country's justice.
On May 18 2010 14:04 unionbank wrote: what will this mean for the sponsors? are we going to see a sponsorless starleague? this isn't sounding to great.
thankfully the players involved aren't that important to a sponsorship point these days (honestly who gives a fuck about savior/justin)
if it were taekbang leessang (bisu/stork/jaedong/flash), we'd have huge problems.
Actually, I'd be more concerned.
Remember, players represent their teams. No matter how you slice it, Savior = CJ, Justin = Hite, etc. Things like this is literally enough for korean corporations to drop their sponsorships for their teams next season.
since when did justin = hite?
He's hite just like Sacsri = Wongjin stars.
when he said savior= cj and jsutin= hite i figured he meant in terms of the player u think of when u hear that team, not just a player on the team.
Well Justin was captain of Sparkyz for a long time, hence not just some player on their team.
On May 18 2010 21:55 Jathin wrote: If I find out IdrA wasn't actually losing but instead throwing all his matches I'm quitting SC.
Edit: that's actually an interesting thought. IdrA was in the CJ house while this was going down. Has he made any statement about all this yet?
Not to insult IdrA or anything, but I seriously doubt he is considered good enough by Korean standards to be able to turn a hefty profit through match fixing. At least players like Savior, Hwasin, go.go etc. played in high profile games that would allow them to get a large amount of money. Besides, if IdrA was in it for the money, he would have been better off going back home to the US then staying in Korea. I am preety sure he earned more money through winning foreigner events then he did through his progaming salary.
I know you weren't implying that he was, but I just thought it wise to discredit the theory upfront before people would get any ideas.
Anyway, this issue makes me wonder if these progamers, now that they tarnished their reputation in the Brood War scene, will try their luck in SC2. Since SC2 (currently) isn't under KeSPA's jurisdiction, they currently have no say in who plays the game professionally. However, I certainly hope they will not be allowed to do so. The last thing a fledging SC2 scene needs is to be negatively marked by cheaters and frauds, just like Brood War was in the early days.
Idra wouldnt be able to take part because he has never been in a proleage game.
Can NOT believe it. I CANT believe Savior is in this lame shit. Im really sorry for him being in this precise hell of a moment. I can honestly say I will remember him for his glorious moments and not for his latest actions/decisions in progaming cuz I'm pretty sure this is it, Hes Done with progaming, so Im not saying I dont care about this scandal, Im just saying I will remember him as THE MAESTRO of zerg, not a criminal as many have already pointed out. I just cant see him that way, for me he didnt started this business nor he was the main target (sort of), in my opinion he just got corrupted as every other human gets at least once, thats what makes us Human (we r not perfect), anyways I think I might be saying some nonsense crap rite but I also think its bcuz of my frustration towards one of my SC role models and also due to the fact that Im disappointed to see one of my Favorite Games "Starcraft" involved in such a dirty business. Im really sorry Savior. Hope u do well in the future. Im pretty sure ur not completely guilty, in fact I think at some point You didnt do it by yourself instead You were forced to do it and well "money talks" and ur just a kid who took a wrong decision, but thats Human, so once again I hope u do well in the future. Hope you could also read this. It's also In moments like this one when Fans should show support not only when you're wining matches.
at first i thought like hmm, 3-6k is not so much money. but when you think about it, 6k dollars for losing one game? that's a pretty huge sallary. especially for players who don't earn that much in their whole career :/
It never seems to be a big amount, until you realize it's like $6k for 1 game which lasts maybe 30 minutes? Less if you are trying to lose. I only WISH I could make $12k/hour
Either way, it was not really an official KeSPA match or anything, and Calm/Hwasin saw it more as an exhibition match, and wanted to give a good showing to the fans. It was pretty foolish to do with with thousands of people watching their fpview though.
They should pay them more money so they don't have the need to do this. These things will always happen from time to time, someone will just slip or has never had a sportsman's heart, but this is way too many people involved to be just a slip. If all of the progamers were paid accordingly this wouldn't happen imo :<
On May 20 2010 13:17 Ekyelka wrote: They should pay them more money so they don't have the need to do this. These things will always happen from time to time, someone will just slip or has never had a sportsman's heart, but this is way too many people involved to be just a slip. If all of the progamers were paid accordingly this wouldn't happen imo :<
Thats like saying that criminals should get more welfare money so they wont commit more crimes...
Either way, it was not really an official KeSPA match or anything, and Calm/Hwasin saw it more as an exhibition match, and wanted to give a good showing to the fans. It was pretty foolish to do with with thousands of people watching their fpview though.
very very foolish indeed. These kind of players are killing e-Sports and should be banned everywhere. Kespa-match or not, it was an event with prizemoney and viewers.
On May 20 2010 13:17 Ekyelka wrote: They should pay them more money so they don't have the need to do this. These things will always happen from time to time, someone will just slip or has never had a sportsman's heart, but this is way too many people involved to be just a slip. If all of the progamers were paid accordingly this wouldn't happen imo :<
Thats like saying that criminals should get more welfare money so they wont commit more crimes...
zee is right. no one is forced to be a progamer with crappy salary.
On May 20 2010 13:17 Ekyelka wrote: They should pay them more money so they don't have the need to do this. These things will always happen from time to time, someone will just slip or has never had a sportsman's heart, but this is way too many people involved to be just a slip. If all of the progamers were paid accordingly this wouldn't happen imo :<
Thats like saying that criminals should get more welfare money so they wont commit more crimes...
On May 20 2010 13:17 Ekyelka wrote: They should pay them more money so they don't have the need to do this. These things will always happen from time to time, someone will just slip or has never had a sportsman's heart, but this is way too many people involved to be just a slip. If all of the progamers were paid accordingly this wouldn't happen imo :<
Thats like saying that criminals should get more welfare money so they wont commit more crimes...
You have a point, yet I believe not all of them are notorious criminals but just normal people like everyone else and they had their reasons. If it wasn't for those reasons it wouldn't be so huge. I doubt the majority of them entered the e-sports scene with such intents. If you have read some of the apologies you can't possibly think so yourself, can you?
On May 20 2010 14:44 zee wrote: Thats like saying that criminals should get more welfare money so they wont commit more crimes...
Depending on the circumstances surrounding one's crimes, it's a reasonable argument in many instances. There are a lot of social and economic factors involved in criminal behavior and welfare can mitigate some of these factors, leading to reduced crime rates. Of course whether welfare is fair or right is a different issue altogether. Just saying that it does have an effect.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.playsc.com/bbs/attachments/month_0710/20071021_21963dac58424c1dfa5316fKrPz9PzpP.jpg)
