A group of players, allegedly involved in match-fixing in Counter-Strike, decided to switch their focus to professional League of Legends. They created what appeared to be a new pro team, but it was actually a “fake” setup designed to rig matches. Their plan fell apart right after their very first series, and they were caught.
It has become increasingly common for second-tier esports leagues to be centers for match-fixing. Some people even claim that rigged games are the only reason some of these lower-level teams manage to stay in business financially. This is a serious problem in the competitive gaming world.
Earlier this year, a similar scandal happened in the game Valorant. It was alleged that second-tier teams were betting huge amounts of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars, on their own matches. Similar issues have happened in League of Legends over the years. China’s second-tier league is especially known for this, with one major investigation resulting in almost 40 players getting banned from the game.
However, this specific Lithuanian team in the Rift Legends league was very bad at hiding what they were doing. They were caught and thrown out of the league immediately after playing just their first match.
LoL team immediately banned for creating fake team to matchfix
It is not a secret that playing in second-tier esports leagues is not very profitable. The cost to run a team is very high. Riot Games even had to make a rule change, exempting teams in the LCS (now called LTA) from having to field a mandatory second-tier roster. This was done to help the organizations stay financially stable.
But while there are not many ways to make money honestly in these leagues, some teams look for illegal ways to make a quick profit. A team called MY STAR decided to do just that. They got rid of their entire roster before the Rift Legends 2025 Summer Split started. They then brought in a completely new group of players. None of the old players had new teams lined up, which was suspicious.
They also signed substitute players at the very last minute. This seemed to be an attempt to get around regional rules about who is allowed to play. The team tried to make it look like a normal roster change, but the details did not add up.
MY STAR completely lost their first game on purpose. Some of the players looked like they had never played League of Legends before in their lives. One player, known as Balukos, had a particularly rough time. He died five times in his lane within the first ten minutes of the game.
By the way, it is actually possible to bet on how badly a specific player will perform on certain betting websites. This could have been the motivation for why this player played so poorly and lost his lane so quickly. It suggests the loss was planned to win a bet.
This is on top of the fact that two other players on the team, kory and LakatosD, have been accused of match-fixing in Counter-Strike before. However, those accusations were never proven, so they were still allowed to compete. kory uses the same name in League of Legends, while LakatosD goes by the name SZLOBESZKOV in Counter-Strike.
Viewers watching the match also noticed strange behavior. The players’ expressions on their webcams rarely changed, and they did not speak at all for the entire duration of both matches. This is a very bizarre occurrence for a professional game, where players usually communicate constantly.
What is more, the webcam for the player labeled as Balukos looked exactly like Lesterik. Lesterik was a former main roster player who had supposedly been moved to a “substitute” role. This raised questions about who was actually playing.
Balukos is listed as Luka Glisic, while Lesterik is Danijel Šego. It is impossible to tell if they really got a new player or if they just used the former player’s webcam feed. It is also possible that the “real” Lesterik was actively playing for the team while pretending to be someone else.
Ruf was the only player who had proof he was actually playing the game. The draft for the match was reflected in his glasses. However, he was not talking either. Instead, he spent a lot of time typing and staring at a second monitor. He was likely communicating with the real teammates he was playing with, not the people appearing on the webcams.
As a result of the investigation, the entire organization has been kicked out of the league immediately. They were banned for match-fixing and for breaking several parts of the league’s code of conduct. More details about the situation can be found in a post on Reddit from a fan named dudanced, who recapped the events leading up to the ban.
The Rift Legends league is bringing this issue directly to Riot Games. They may also pursue legal action against the team for damaging the league’s image and reputation.
