Sweden’s playing regulator, Spelinspektionen, has reported fewer match-fixing instances in 2025 than in earlier years. The drop comes regardless of a match-fixing scandal in esports final 12 months, which led to the Northern Lights workforce’s suspension.
Spelinspektionen reported that there have been solely two reviews of suspicions of match-fixing in 2025, although it didn’t present particulars on the instances. This can be a drop from 5 reviews in 2024 and twelve in 2023.
Samuel Walberg, coordinator in opposition to match-fixing at Spelinspektionen, commented, “The work in opposition to match-fixing has labored effectively in the course of the 12 months, and the collaboration with crime prevention authorities, the sports activities motion, and the playing trade inside the match-fixing council has gone effectively.”
“We view the downward pattern positively, however the work continues to forestall and detect manipulations. Match-fixers’ strategies may be superior and we can not make sure that all manipulations might be detected.”
Esports Integrity Points Stay
Whereas the decline has been welcomed, the case in opposition to the Northern Lights workforce highlights that esports stays a threat for match-fixing.
The Esports Integrity Fee (ESIC) suspended the CS2 workforce in October over issues of foul play. All 5 members of the workforce are Swedish, together with:
Axel “axelen” Enholm
Anton “Meinz” Evander
Oscar “Avoy” Dahlkvist
Frank “fraaank” Issal
Alexamder “frigolito” Andersson
After information of the investigation broke, Issal (fraaank) admitted the workforce had been fixing matches. He said, “We used to win/lose relying on what we had determined earlier than the match.”
Following the Swedish gamers’ suspension, ESIC commented, “ESIC stays dedicated to safeguarding honest play throughout esports. The place our Codes point out threat to aggressive integrity, interim measures are an important software to guard occasions whereas due course of is adopted, according to prior public statements and outcomes.”
Final month, Riot Video games suspended Korean Valorant star Seungmin “ban” Oh, highlighting the problems that stay in esports.
Regulators Partnering To Goal Fixers
ESIC, like Spelinspektionen, has been specializing in decreasing match-fixing. The company signed up a number of betting companions final 12 months in an effort to fight integrity points, together with Stake and Rollbit, in November.
Spelinspektionen launched new guidelines in 2024, which require licensed betting firms to report suspicions of match-fixing.
It acquired 4 reviews of suspicions, however didn’t add these to its determine, because it says it lacks earlier figures to make a comparability.
One of many instances was the identical as reported by an integrity group. It didn’t point out whether or not this was the esports case flagged by Swedish Elitserien, the nation’s esports league.
The league mentioned it has “zero tolerance for match-fixing and prioritizes the integrity of the competitors.”
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