The biggest betting platform for Counter-Strike will now sponsor a professional team.
The betting website CSGOLounge has acquired a Polish team that has formerly flown the banners of Gamers2 and Dobry Gaming. The move comes just one week prior to the team competing in Stockholm, Sweden for a spot in the upcoming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major.
It’s a bold move for CSGOLounge, but one that’s also sure to invite skepticism from observers. Fans have been wary of any potential for match fixing following the scandal that rocked the scene nearly one year ago. Each match the new Lounge Gaming team competes in is likely to be an easy target for questions from bettors, especially if the results are unexpected.
In spite of this potential for controversy, CSGOLounge has long been interested in acquiring a Counter-Strike team. It now clearly sees the opportunity to go through with it.
The team will also be undergoing a roster change as part of the move, adding Mariusz “Loord” Cybulski and Oskar “Oskarish” Stenborowksi to replace the departing Mikolaj “Mouz” Karolewski and Jacek “Minise” Jeziak.
Captain Pawel “Innocent” Mocek spoke to the strength of the new line-up in a statement on the deal.
“Our calendar is full of both offline and online events, we are looking forward to competing and hopefully do enough damage this time,” Mocek said.
The team’s offline debut in Stockholm next week will see them starting in a group with Copenhagen Wolves, Counter Logic Gaming and Flipside Tactics. Eight of the 16 teams attending the Stockholm event will qualify for DreamHack’s October major in Romania.
Image via CSGOLounge
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