SideshowETF2L's stance is more that they don't think it's up to them to regulate the betting, and it should be done by Cherry. I think that's sensible and Cherry's view that betting on your own team but not against is a good idea.
However I don't agree with removing the spread bets. Every point matters in a season and saying that there is "no incentive to play fairly" and expecting people to throw games now that ETF2L is not going to ban you for betting against yourself is dumb. 3 reasons why:
1. A ban from saloontf is enough of a deterrent to stop people betting against themselves openly. It would be stupid, they know you check the games to make sure it doesn't happen, so that changes nothing.
2. If they were going to throw beforehand it would have been with an alt account, throwing the game for massive amounts of ecurrency. The deterrent was, and still is, that in Prem all the points matter. You can't throw a game even if there was spread betting and you only lost 1 point - that single point could be the difference between you getting into playoffs, or getting 1st or 2nd seed etc. The deterrent for throwing has not been removed.
3. A lack of spread betting this season means that only 4 games all season will be allowed as far as I can see. That's really dumb imo for engaging with a european audience for your website, especially when spread betting works so much better than it does in ESEA. Yes they get banned for throwing in ESEA, but let's take the Froyo vs. Cafe Monsters game for example: it wasn't a throw for skins, but if you had made that game spread betting and the result was the same with froyo messing about, it would certainly look that way. They can throw rounds with no penalty and no way of telling whether they really did throw or not. At least in ETF2L there is a penalty if you throw in a spread game.
SideshowI don't think it's ETF2L's place to ban people for betting on or against their own team. It's not their site. The only thing you should be banned from ETF2L for is if you throw games or are betting on teams with the knowledge that games are gonna be thrown. As for people just betting against themselves (which is normally gonna happen in ignorance of the rules by a player on a bad team) just let cherry warn them, nullify the bet and if necessary ban them from saloon.
1. All league and competitions in real world as well as some virtual ones policy it as it also affects their reputation and following.
The reason why I thought of it as a good idea was because we all have common goals (bookie and leagues) and banning players just by me would in no way discourage others from throwing since that's not a punishment at all. Just makes it slightly harder whereas a potential ban from a league could greatly discourage those who want to throw.
2. I can easily imagine a team like TLR giving away 1 point and still being in playoffs.
3. This doesn't matter that much given the update I got, but the issue was that while it's clear when someone bets against his team (as well as his intentions are clear) whether it was intentional throw or not was subject to the opinion of the admins. I believe that everything leading to a match fix should be bannable if it can be documented.