ESIC hands lifetime ban to StarCraft II player Firefly over match-fixing

    The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has issued a lifetime competitive ban to Chinese StarCraft II player Xue 'Firefly' Tao following an extensive investigation into match-fixing and betting corruption.

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    The inquiry, which ran from April to July, was triggered in May when ESIC received reports of suspicious betting activity. Formal investigations began in early June, leading to Firefly's provisional suspension on 14 June.

    ESIC found that Firefly was at the centre of a coordinated match-fixing scheme, deliberately losing matches for betting profit and sharing proceeds with others.

    He committed 21 breaches in total - 11 of the Anti-Corruption Code and 10 of the Code of Conduct. These included betting on matches he was involved in, sharing insider information, and conduct deemed harmful to the integrity of esports.

    Notably, Firefly's performance anomalies were strongly correlated with irregular betting patterns, and he was found to have received ~10,008 pounds in transferred funds tied to match-fixing.

    Jinhui 'Jim' Cao, a former StarCraft II player, was also implicated. Though retired, Jim placed bets against Firefly with an 83% success rate and earned roughly ~3,286 pounds from Firefly's 3–0 loss to Bunny in an Esports World Cup qualifier. Over 100 betting slip screenshots across three sportsbooks were submitted as evidence.

    Jim has been provisionally suspended from all ESIC-member events, should he return to competition.

    Firefly was barred from the Esports World Cup following his June suspension.