This LoL pro has been waiting two years for prize money

Feb 22, 2022

Reading time: 2 min

A League of Legends player recently announced that they’ve been waiting two years for prize money owed to them from a large league.

Ahahacik, a jungler for Case Esports, took to Twitter to announce that he has been waiting for two years for his prize money from the LCL Open Cup 2020. The LCL is the highest level of play in the Commonwealth of Independent States, organized by Riot Games Russia.

Is Riot Games Russia witholding prize money?

Ahahacik is a player that many fans might recognize from his appearance on the 2019 Unicorns of Love iteration that made it to Worlds that year.

According to Ahahacik, he has repeatedly been in contact with the relevant Riot Games Russia employees both directly and indirectly through management. Ahahacik claimed that Riot Games Russia continually promised to pay out the prize money at progressively extending dates.

Despite repeated promises that the Russian branch of the multi-billion dollar company would pay up, Ahahacik says he’s still without payment.

No prize payout 😥

Read: https://t.co/5rD7AohAgn
— Kirill Skvortsov (@ahahaciklol) February 21, 2022

In the short TwitLonger posted to Twitter, Ahahacik explained the situation that had clearly been getting on his nerves. According to him, Riot Games Russia most recently promised that he would be paid by the end of December 2021. This deadline has come and gone without any sign of the professional player getting what he’s owed.

Riot Games Russia continues to evade the jungler and two years of missed payment comes off as intentional avoidance of duty by the Russian branch of the company.

Riot Games Russia and the LCL have had controversies before, with action being taken against team RoX for banning only female champions against an all-female lineup. The league has had an uphill battle at times to be taken as seriously as its cousins in Korea, Europe, or North America.

Issues with paying out its professional players only add more obstacles for the growing league to push past in search of a better image.