LPL Star Suspended For Fixing Pro League of Legends Matches
Update: Since the allegations surfaced, Chen "Jay" Bo has been officially suspended by the League of Legends Pro League officials, with an indefinite ban being the ruling.
Original Article:
Marooned rock-bottom of the Chinese League of Legends Pro League, LGD Gaming has taken a significant downturn since their appearance at the 2020 World Championships and a second place in the LPL Finals of the same year. Once one of the most exciting rosters in Eastern LoL, the side is now more of a guaranteed walk-over, and it has emerged that there may be more than just poor performances behind this.
LGD Jay Accused Of Match-Fixing In The LPL
Just a year on from a huge scandal in the LPL where 38 players and coaches were banned from the league due to match-fixing allegations, the league's integrity has once again been called into question.
LGD mid-laner Jay has allegedly been agreeing to lose matches in the most recent LPL Spring Split, as per a range of screenshots that appeared on Chinese social media sites, which also implicate un-named teammates.
The reports emerged on social media following the organisation's dismal conclusion of the split, where they finished with a 3-13 record to be joint-bottom with ThunderTalk Gaming.
LGD Jay Match Fixing Allegations Surface On Weibo
The allegations of Jay's match-fixing scandal appeared on Weibo - China's alternative social media site - from an account made with the sole purpose of bringing these issues to light.
According to screenshots released by a user named "6199419983", Jay intentionally threw LGD's game versus BLG on March 20, and another game against Top Esports this year, both of which were LGD's most recent opponents.
LGD were romped 2-0 in both of their final matches in question, with Jay picking up just a single kill in the two games versus Bilibili Gaming, while his mid-lane opponent in the Top Esports games, Zhuo "knight" Ding ended with a 25.0 KDA ratio.
The screenshots reportedly include messages from an unknown source to Jay, saying "How much do you want for the 20th?", referring to the match against BLG, with another also saying an LGD teammate will be helping fix the game.
LGD took to Weibo to confess that they had reported the allegations to the LPL disciplinary board and had launched their own internal investigations. Somewhat fortunately for the side, they won't be competing in the playoffs or MSI, and will have until the Summer Split to settle their team's issues or find a replacement mid-laner.
