Swedish CS: GO player Joel “joel” Holmlund was banned by The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) due to charges of betting against himself.
18-year-old Joel, who previously played for Godsent and Monte, has been suspended by ESIC from all member events, which includes tournament organizers ESL and BLAST. However, the Commission has yet to announce the length of his suspension since he can still influence the final ESIC decision.
“While the suspension stands, ESIC remains open to reevaluation should Mr. Holmlund present new evidence by 6 October 2023,” noted the ESIC statement.
ESIC States that Joel, between the period of 27 March 2023 to 28 March 2023, placed bets on matches he was playing in; on March 31st, 2023, he placed two bets against his own team in one match and between the period from March 29th, 2023 to May 1st, 2023, he placed 17 bets on various CS:GO matches.
Godsent also provided a statement on what happened.
“Joel’s suspension from Godsent followed us being informed of serious allegations relating to match-fixing and betting between the 27th of March and the 1st of May, on our own and other matches, coming from relevant parties in the industry. As soon as we retrieved the information we immediately suspended Joel from play’¦ Joel’s contract was eventually terminated and any relations and associations he had with our organization were void. This unfortunately made it so that he could continue playing in other teams until ESIC could finalize and make its case,” the organization reported.
Holmlund has denied the accusations and promises to provide evidence with a lawyer by the deadline.
“The 30th of August I received a notice of charge from ESIC, I instantly jumped on a call with Ian Smith, head of ESIC. They then decided no further actions would be taken at that point of time. After my qualification to BLAST and several tweets from different individuals I believe ESIC felt forced to act, and yesterday, the 19th of September, I received yet another, still the same notice of charge. Today they decided to make a public statement, that is extremely injustice. They are accusing me of several stuff I didn’t do, and that’s fairly obvious, still, if I come out publicly with them I am breaking the confidentiality. I am still willing to cooperate With ESIC and will give my final answer around the 6 October together with my lawyer,” he stated.
