What is VALORANT Match-Fixing Scandal: Sean Gares Exposes Corruption in Tier 2 Scene & Riot's Response
- Sahil Mankar
- May 19
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
The competitive VALORANT scene was rocked on May 16, when longtime industry figure Sean "sgares" Gares released a video exposing what he calls widespread corruption in the North American Tier 2 ecosystem. The bombshell allegations have pushed Riot Games to open an active investigation into activities that could threaten the integrity of one of the biggest names in esports.
What Are the Allegations?
Gares, a former 100 Thieves head coach and current GM of Shopify Rebellion's SR Black roster, posted a six-minute video that quickly went viral. And he didn’t hold back.
“The Tier 2 North American VALORANT scene is infected,” he said. “Match fixing, cheating, underground gambling rings—people making hundreds of thousands of dollars on these games that are rigged.”
Gares painted a grim picture of a competitive space hollowed out by the exit of major orgs, leaving many players vulnerable to shady influences.
“All these Tier 1 orgs have left, and these players are desperate,” he continued. “They’re getting bribed with tens of thousands of dollars to throw a match. Sometimes, even a ranked game.”
Worse yet, he claimed that once players get involved, they’re often blackmailed into continued cooperation.
“They’ve got you by the balls,” Gares warned. “They don’t go away. They can blackmail you for eternity. That’s how this game works.”
He also pointed out that match-fixing isn’t new to the scene, recalling a 2014 Counter-Strike incident during his time at Complexity, where a match was thrown for just $700 worth of in-game skins—a reminder that the issue runs deep in esports history.
How Riot Games Responded to the Allegations
The video caused an immediate stir, prompting Riot Games to release a statement via Sports Illustrated confirming that an internal investigation is already underway.
“The recent allegations about North America Challengers have been under active investigation,” Riot said. “We take accusations like these extremely seriously.”
Riot also addressed rumors that its own staff might be involved, stating that so far, there’s “nothing to indicate complicity or wrongdoing by any member of our anti-cheat team.”
“Investigations take time. We’re conducting interviews, gathering evidence, and following our established procedures—carefully and without external pressure.”
Riot’s Esports Rules & Compliance team added:
“Safeguarding the integrity of our esports ecosystem is a shared responsibility between players, teams, tournament organizers, and Riot.”
What’s Next?
Gares has promised to release follow-up evidence during the week of May 19. His claims are already gaining traction with notable figures like Kydae, s0m, PROD, Asuna, Chet, and zombs have voiced their support.
For Gares, this is about more than gambling—it’s about fairness: “These people aren’t just stealing money from gamblers. They’re stealing livelihoods from players who are actually doing it the right way,” he added. “And that’s what angers me the most.”
As the community braces for the next wave of revelations, one thing is clear: this controversy has the potential to reshape how match integrity is handled across all of esports—starting with VALORANT.
UDPADE: In a comprehensive hour-long exposé released on May 24, 2025, titled "The Dark Side of Competitive VALORANT," Gares has implicated multiple Challengers teams and provided what he describes as concrete proof of systematic corruption. Below is the full video:
According to Gares' evidence, several Challenger teams have been directly implicated in the alleged scheme:
Burger Boyz
Prosperity Esports
Blue Otter
Specific Match Examples: Gares provided detailed analysis of suspicious gameplay, particularly focusing on:
Blue Otter vs Burger Boyz (April 29, 2025) - A match with $30,000 in alleged bets
Blue Otter vs Shopify Rebellion (May 6, 2025) - The match that initially raised Gares' suspicions
His frame-by-frame analysis of these matches revealed what he describes as inexplicably poor decision-making, players running into obvious danger with knives out, wasting utility, and exhibiting dramatically different skill levels between matches.
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