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Original : http://www.sc2improve.net/blog/2015/2/8/sc2i-winter-series-korean-betting
Tonight it came to my attention that the SC2Improve Winter Series may be being used as a front for illegal betting in Korea. Over the past week there has been more and more talk about illegal betting and I was already slightly worried about the Winter Series potentially being involved. With the revelations tonight I have decided it is safest to cut all attachments to our sponsor for the Winter Series.
The sponsor approached me after I casted the Connsi Christmas League in December. He asked me if I would run an event for him and he proposed the format of the Winter Series. I knew that these guys had been the sponsors of the previous Connecting Slovenia tournament as well and so I knew they paid prizes for the events they sponsored, which was the main concern for me going into this sponsorship.
The set-up is very similar to what others have described for the illegal betting. He asked to observe in-game, which is something I knew they previously did for the Connecting Slovenia tournaments, and asked for a five minute delay to be set (which is less than what other tournaments have been running on, apparently.) Personally I found both requests fairly reasonable, though I didn't really know why they wanted to be in the game I assumed they just wanted to be around should something happen or perhaps they were collecting the replays. The delay I found to be perfectly reasonable as well. Usually I run SC2ITL broadcasts with a 2-3 minute delay, but a 5 minute delay for a larger tournament with a higher prize pool at stake seemed fair.
The last thing I thought would come of this would be a betting scandal - but now that the problem has been highlighted it seems obvious that this is what it is. I don't believe match fixing was a part of this, but it is something that I cannot be sure about as the sponsor did provide about half of the players who took part in the competition.
I am more than happy to talk in more detail with anybody who has the need for information and you can contact me via the website you are reading this statement on.
Going forward I do not want this to be something we dwell on. Starcraft is a game I love and which I have a lot of passion for, which is why I spend hours every week running SC2Improve, organizing tournaments and casting matches. As time goes by it's heartbreaking to see that we are hit by wave after wave of negativity and I'm sure this latest drama is going to hit hard.
I have decided I will run the rest of the SC2Improve Winter Series from my own pocket, with a decreased prize pool of $1000 for the main final event (which was originally going to be $3000). There will be no in-game observers apart from me. This Tuesday we will have Week 6 of the competition and the players who advance in first and second will be payed the $150 and $50 respectively as in previous groups. For Weeks 7 & 8 I will be running the groups purely as qualifiers into the main event, without a prize. I might even change it to be an open-bracket qualifier, as I know there was a lot of interest from players to take part who have not had the chance. More information will be posted soon.
Wardí
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Excellent move. Thanks for that insight.
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Good for you! I will be sure to tune in and give you my advertising attention. I promise to watch every ad (even if its those horrible 3 minute ads) and never hit that skip button.
You, good sir, are a gentleman and a scholar!
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On February 09 2015 09:42 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:
Good for you! I will be sure to tune in and give you my advertising attention. I promise to watch every ad (even if its those horrible 3 minute ads) and never hit that skip button.
You, good sir, are a gentleman and a scholar!
Does skipping those horrible long ads not give revenue? Cuase I've been hit by 10+ ads before and no reasnoable person will ever miss an entire game for one ad.
And thanks for the honesty and clarity OP, glad we finally got a statement from someone.
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On February 09 2015 09:44 SetGuitarsToKill wrote:Show nested quote +On February 09 2015 09:42 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:
Good for you! I will be sure to tune in and give you my advertising attention. I promise to watch every ad (even if its those horrible 3 minute ads) and never hit that skip button.
You, good sir, are a gentleman and a scholar! Does skipping those horrible long ads not give revenue? Cuase I've been hit by 10+ ads before and no reasnoable person will ever miss an entire game for one ad. And thanks for the honesty and clarity OP, glad we finally got a statement from someone.
I am not sure about Twitch's ad platform, but I know that YouTube's skip button does not give revenue to the content developer, unless the audience watched at least 50% of the ad.
edit: As well, I don't think those long ads are used for pre-roll. Most pre-roll ads are the standard 30sec, so you shouldn't miss too much of the action if you start watching a game in progress.
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Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand how you can be 100% sure the sponsor's behavior was related to illegal betting just because he asked to observe the game.
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On February 09 2015 09:47 KingAlphard wrote:
Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand how you can be 100% sure the sponsor's behavior was related to illegal betting just because he asked to observe the game.
He can't, but for the sake of integrity he isn't taking any chances.
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On February 09 2015 09:48 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:Show nested quote +On February 09 2015 09:47 KingAlphard wrote:
Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand how you can be 100% sure the sponsor's behavior was related to illegal betting just because he asked to observe the game. He can't, but for the sake of integrity he isn't taking any chances.
^ This. As the statement says, the delay is not as long as other tournaments which were flagged up earlier, but it is a very similar situation. No point taking the risk.
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Well that is a respectful decision you made there.
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On February 09 2015 09:30 SC2Improve wrote:
I don't believe match fixing was a part of this, but it is something that I cannot be sure about as the sponsor did provide about half of the players who took part in the competition.
Crosscheck the names to other tournaments the same sponsor sponsored. If the same players were provided to those tournaments you have a bingo.
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On February 09 2015 09:55 Jarree wrote:Show nested quote +On February 09 2015 09:30 SC2Improve wrote:
I don't believe match fixing was a part of this, but it is something that I cannot be sure about as the sponsor did provide about half of the players who took part in the competition.
Crosscheck the names to other tournaments the same sponsor sponsored. If the same players were provided to those tournaments you have a bingo.
Does not necessarily mean match fixing. I assume a lot of the names would match because they only have a certain number of contacts. I think it's fairly reasonable to assume someone could be invited to a tournament because it's easy to contact them etc. without them being match fixers.
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On February 09 2015 09:46 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:Show nested quote +On February 09 2015 09:44 SetGuitarsToKill wrote:On February 09 2015 09:42 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:
Good for you! I will be sure to tune in and give you my advertising attention. I promise to watch every ad (even if its those horrible 3 minute ads) and never hit that skip button.
You, good sir, are a gentleman and a scholar! Does skipping those horrible long ads not give revenue? Cuase I've been hit by 10+ ads before and no reasnoable person will ever miss an entire game for one ad. And thanks for the honesty and clarity OP, glad we finally got a statement from someone. I am not sure about Twitch's ad platform, but I know that YouTube's skip button does not give revenue to the content developer, unless the audience watched at least 50% of the ad. edit: As well, I don't think those long ads are used for pre-roll. Most pre-roll ads are the standard 30sec, so you shouldn't miss too much of the action if you start watching a game in progress.
I watched BTTV once without adsblock, and got a 37 minutes (yes thirty seven) ads during the 2min ads break. So yeah can definitively miss some gameplay if not skipping or having blockers.
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Good reaction, got your tournament a new viewer 
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Wow this a move that takes some serious integrity, OP. Good on you.
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You're a good man Wardi, thanks for all you do for SC2.
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On February 09 2015 11:05 varsovie wrote:Show nested quote +On February 09 2015 09:46 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:On February 09 2015 09:44 SetGuitarsToKill wrote:On February 09 2015 09:42 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:
Good for you! I will be sure to tune in and give you my advertising attention. I promise to watch every ad (even if its those horrible 3 minute ads) and never hit that skip button.
You, good sir, are a gentleman and a scholar! Does skipping those horrible long ads not give revenue? Cuase I've been hit by 10+ ads before and no reasnoable person will ever miss an entire game for one ad. And thanks for the honesty and clarity OP, glad we finally got a statement from someone. I am not sure about Twitch's ad platform, but I know that YouTube's skip button does not give revenue to the content developer, unless the audience watched at least 50% of the ad. edit: As well, I don't think those long ads are used for pre-roll. Most pre-roll ads are the standard 30sec, so you shouldn't miss too much of the action if you start watching a game in progress. I watched BTTV once without adsblock, and got a 37 minutes (yes thirty seven) ads during the 2min ads break. So yeah can definitively miss some gameplay if not skipping or having blockers.
I fucking hate those loooooong ads, and I think Twitch/Amazon should bury those deep in the depths of advertising hell.
I fortunately don't see them very often though. I really don't understand why some platforms still roll those. Ads should be as unobtrusive as possible, and nothing is more obtrusive as a 30+ minute ad.
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Does not necessarily mean match fixing. I assume a lot of the names would match because they only have a certain number of contacts. I think it's fairly reasonable to assume someone could be invited to a tournament because it's easy to contact them etc. without them being match fixers.
If there was match fixing taking place at all, why have a spectator at all? It would just tip people off that something was up. It wouldn't affect anything because, in theory, the outcome is known already.
I think the tournaments with these spectators are the ones least likely to involve match fixing.
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Wardi is, and always has been, a respectable man.
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EPT
