Two VALORANT pro-players from Singapore wanted to fix a match by losing it on purpose while betting on the other team. The plan included using an illegal gambling website to put their money on their opponent. Meanwhile, both players have been arrested for match fixing. Malcolm Chung “Germsg” Wai Kiat, is the captain of the team in question, named Resurgence, he has to go to prison for four months now!
The 25-year-old had pleaded guilty to the offence. A day before that, Germsg’s colleague Ryan “Dreamycsgo” Tan Shern, was also sentenced to a minimum of six months’ education. The 21-year-old pro had pleaded guilty to bribing Germsg to commit match-fixing with him.
Gambling addiction led to match-fixing
Germsg and Dreamycsgo have known each other for almost 10 years. Before VALORANT, the two played CS:GO. Later, they both joined Singaporean Team Resurgence (RSG), and Germsg became captain of the VALORANT line-up. Three years ago, Dreamycsgo borrowed 1,000 Singapore dollars from Germsg to fund his gambling addiction. Germsg kept asking Dreamycsgo to return the money to him, but it never happened.
Official: Valorant players 'Germsg' and 'Dreamycsgo' banned from competing for 3 years for match fixing.
The players co-ordinated to bet against their own team, during a #VALORANT Ignition series match in September 2020. pic.twitter.com/JuzMS4OOhX
— Valorant News (@ValorINTEL) June 16, 2021
By the end of 2020, Germsg wanted at least 400 Singapore dollars from Dreamycsgo because he desperately needed money. During this period Resurgence was taking part in RIOT’s Ignition Series. Unsurprisingly they lost against Paper Rex, but also Vision Strikers. The match on 22 September 2020 was played against Blackbird Ignis.
Players back own team
Before the match, Dreamycsgo suggested to Germsg that he bet on their own team losing so that Dreamycsgo could win money – then he could finally pay Germsg back the $1,000 money he had borrowed. Germsg allowed himself to be persuaded because he thought he would never get the money back otherwise. But Dreamycsgo didn’t have the money himself, he had to borrow 3,000 Singapore dollars from him, give them to Germsg, who then put the money on the bet. The latter used 5 different bets on an illegal gambling website and placed them all against his own team. During the match, Germsg played extra badly and ordered his colleagues to play badly too. RSG lost the match 2-0 and Germsg won more than 7,000 Singapore dollars (about US$5190) from the bets.
dreamycsgo and Germsg convicted
This incident did not go unnoticed. In the summer of 2021, the COO of the team’s management company reported the players for match-fixing. The case went to court and both Germsg and dreamycsgo were punished by Riot. The other players in the lineup were also sanctioned. dreamycsgo was sentenced to six months of “reformative training” while Germsg will serve four months in jail. The “reformative training” consists of imprisonment with a very strict work and meal plan. The training is meant for addicts and it seems that the gambler with his gambling addiction falls into this category. The incident made waves in the community. Team RSG was heavily criticised and could not recover from the damage to its image, which led to the lineup having to disband.