The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has suspended professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) player Joel Holmlund for allegedly placing bets on games in which he participated.

ESIC accused Holmlund – who played for CS:GO team Godsent – of violating its anti-corruption code while participating in the BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic event and the IEM Dallas 2023 qualifier.

The integrity authority accuses Holmlund of placing bets on games he played between March 27 and 28, 2023. He is also accused of placing two bets against his own team on March 31, 2023.

According to ESIC, Holmlund made a total of 17 bets on various CS:GO games between March 29 and May 1, 2023.

Violation of ESIC Code

Therefore, ESIC accused Holmlund of several violations of its code. This included Section 2.1.1, which prohibits conspiracy to manipulate a match.

In addition, Holmlund was accused of several other violations related to his betting code. These consisted of betting on games he took part in, concealing this from ESIC and bringing the reputation of esports into disrepute.

ESIC decided to exclude Holmlund from all ESIC member events “given the seriousness of the allegations.”

On X, formerly Twitter, Holmlund denied the allegations. In a statement, he said he first heard about the allegations on August 30 but was told no further action would be taken.

“Today they decided to make a public statement, which is extremely unfair [sic]”They’re accusing me of several things that I didn’t do, and that’s pretty obvious, but if I engage with them publicly, I’m violating confidentiality,” he said.

Holmlund said he is willing to cooperate with ESIC on the matter and plans to submit a final response to the charges along with his attorney on October 6.