StarCraft is one of the most popular past times in South Korea. The e-sport has been rocked by scandal recently as the illegal gambling rackets surrounding it have been exposed.
The gambling allegedly began in 2006 with the professional players themselves becoming involved in 2008. After years of trying to deal with the problem on its own the Korean E-Sports Association has finally alerted police this past week.
The gambling racket involves not only betting on games but rigging matches. By paying, or intimidating, the worlds best players into throwing matches or leaking team replay footage to competing teams many of the games most prolific figures are involved in the allegations including Ma Jae-Yoon who has been ranked first nine times in the past and even winning BlizzCon and several other major tournaments. Other BlizzCon winners are involved as well.
The pro teams are blaming each other at the moment, firing members, or even retiring. Korean websites have been posting blacklists of players involved but they are quickly taken down such as this one found on GamePron [quote]Myung Soo (Yarnc), Chan Soo (Luxury), Sang Ho (SangHo), Jung Woo (EffOrt), Yong Hwa (Movie), Jae Yoon (sAviOr), Taek Yong (Bisu), Byong Goo (Stork), Jae Wook (BeSt), il Jang (hero), Myung Hoon (fantasy), Heui Seung (UpMaGiC), Jae Dong (Jaedong), Sang Moon (Leta), Jong Seo (Justin), Chang Hee (go.go)[/quote]
More information is being released every day.
