ESIC partners with Stake to combat corruption in esports betting
With esports betting becoming more mainstream with each passing day, bookmakers and watchdogs alike are stepping up efforts to keep the scene free of corruption, and a new partnership between Stake and the ESIC aims to bring both more transparency and accountability to esports betting.
Gambling in esports isn’t a new phenomenon, but it has never been as big and mainstream as it is now as betting grows in popularity worldwide and esports become increasingly ingrained in the global sporting fabric.
The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) and top provider Stake are now partnering to further clamp down on any potential instances of corruption and suspicious betting activity across esports. The watchdog will rely on the crypto betting platform’s data and monitoring tools to flag irregular wagering patterns and identify such issues before they spiral out of control.
What the ESIC and Stake partnership means for esports
The ESIC has long positioned itself as the primary protector of integrity within the esports scene, overseeing everything ranging from in-game conduct to betting-related activities. It does a solid job on the tournament side, but the betting scene is where things get tricky. Getting actual data from gambling sites isn’t always simple, even for the ESIC, which makes it harder to catch on to suspicious behavior as quickly as would be ideal.
Esports Integrity Commission
This data is crucial for catching suspicious activity on the esports betting sites. Counter-Strike in particular has a long-established history of esports betting, thanks in large part to the game’s massive in-game skin marketplace and a popular pro scene that naturally attracts wagering. But with that level of interest comes plenty of loopholes that bad actors can exploit.
A well-known example is the 2014 iBUYPOWER incident, where betting favorites threw a match so that others could profit from underdog bets. Without access to betting data, cases like that one become harder to spot before the damage is done. By partner with a top betting platform like Stake, ESIC aims to get access to the complex data it needs to better detect such cases in real time.
“Through data sharing, operational cooperation, and collaborative monitoring, the program enhances ESIC’s capacity to identify and address potential issues in real time,” the ESIC said.
Stake is one of the biggest esports bookmakers in 2025, with a huge chunk of fans using it for their online wagers. With ESIC gaining access to that data, the esports betting marketplace stands to benefit from a cleaner and more transparent system. The partnership grants ESIC official access to betting data from Stake, enabling them to spot odd patterns quickly.
With this partnership, Stake becomes the first major crypto betting platform on ESIC’s “tier 1” anti-corruption network, boosting the watchdog’s reach in esports’ betting markets and demonstrating Stake’s own commitment to battling against corruption in esports betting. It’s a move that strengthens ESIC in its efforts and gives bettors more confidence in the online betting framework that Stake is helping to solidify through efforts like this one.
Featured image credit: ESIC
Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.
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