Esports’ rapid growth into a billion-dollar industry has made it a prime target for match-fixing, with scandals spanning multiple games and regions. The most infamous case remains Solo’s 2013 bet against his own team RoX.KIS at StarLadder StarSeries Season 6. Solo wagered $100 on zRAGE to win, collecting $322 when RoX.KIS lost. The incident birthed the meme “322” as shorthand for match-fixing in the scene.

Solo’s lifetime ban from StarLadder tournaments was later reduced to one year. He went on to play for Natus Vincere, competing in multiple The International events. Meanwhile, China’s League of Legends Development League (LDL) faced its own crisis. In 2021-2022, Riot Games and Tencent uncovered widespread corruption, including Bo Янбо’s blackmail into throwing matches. The investigation led to 38 bans, including the entire Sheng Jie Gaming roster.

The crackdown continued in 2022, with Team Orange and TWELVE expelled from LDL for suspicious betting patterns. By March 2026, another scandal emerged when Naiyou Цзіцзянь received a lifetime ban for match-fixing. The most severe punishment, however, fell on Newbee, 2014’s The International champions. In 2020, Newbee defeated Avengerls in a StarLadder ImbaTV qualifier marred by Avengerls throwing a 15k gold lead. Both the Chinese Dota2 Association and Perfect World issued lifetime bans to Newbee’s organization and players.