An interesting example happened in the Brazilian scenario of League of Legends this week. INTZ's Leonardo "Gragolandia" Brito was punished with 10 suspension games by Riot Games after appearing on a broadcast that promoted betting - something seen as a conflict of interest with respect to the integrity of the tournament. He had been playing at the CBLOL Academy - a tournament focused on talent development.
“The participation of competitive athletes in content and broadcasts sponsored by betting brands and / or that promote this practice, whether directly or indirectly, including hunches, is unacceptable, as it is one of the most serious violations in professional sport, directly reaching competitive integrity,” said Riot in an official statement.
Rigidity is necessary and totally justified. Any championship that takes itself seriously, whether it be electronic sports or not, must be extremely careful regarding betting. Apart from not allowing any seriousness questioning, it is also necessary to consider that, often, the public reached by the content creators' messages is vulnerable to certain subjects.
Giving teenagers and / or younger people the message that betting represents an easy profit or a simple way to make money is irresponsible. It is useless to send messages warning that it is something aimed at adults, that it is necessary to be aware of what to do with their own earnings, if daily what is most done is to display increasingly larger and relevant profit prints.
“Bets are less, sometimes much less, dependent on the publishers' actions, the current demand for a specific game or the success of someone in it. For example, teams and organizations depend heavily on their athletes' predictable performance, transfers and the popularity of their main disciplines; so much so that even a patch can impact the achievements of the players,” said Paul Brel, Head of Communications at LOOT.BET's on the Livestream platform, in a recent interview with Esports Insider.
Although they have a legal backing and are not prohibited, sports betting is a delicate subject to be addressed in the competitive scenario. Riot's care with the subject, imposing zero tolerance in this sense, is a good message about the level of severity that "mixing things up" can cause. Active professional players must know that the posture outside the game must follow a behavioral pattern.
The scenario has already evolved a lot regarding image care, the notion that wearing an organization's shirt represents much more than just a sports field. The biggest point of attention, in fact, is for the teams. The values need to be clear, from the beginning, so that an entire team is not hampered by a player's slip. The regulation is clear, just be followed.
Leo Bianchi
He is a journalist, has been a reporter and presenter of Globo Esporte. He is passionate about competition and has covered the World Cup, Formula 1, UFC and world championships of CS: GO, R6, FIFA, Just Dance and Free Fire worlds.
