We have yet another non-payout case in the world of Dota 2 Esports. This time, the culprit is none other than Electronic Sports Broadcasting (ESB), the organizers behind Elite League series.
The latest information comes in a series of emails published on Twitter/X by Mateus “Cysne” Cysne Barbosa, the former manager of BOOM Esports.
ESB called out for non-payout of prize pool winnings from Elite League (Image credit: ESB)
ESB And Elite League Emails Published as Non-Payment Scandal Continues
According to the X post by Cysne, ESB has failed to pay out prize pool winnings to the team he was managing last year. These allegations were first brought earlier in October 2024. BOOM Esports participated at the Elite League S1 and S2, winning a cumulative $92,000 in promised winnings. Since the tournaments have concluded in April and August 2024, BOOM Esports has yet to receive any amount of winnings.
Additionally, Cysne included his email trail that he has been writing to the CEO of ESB, Gonzalo Velasco. He raised concerns on whether ESB would be able to pay teams the outstanding prize pool winnings, to which Gonzalo responded about the current situation ESB is in.
Well, I tried my best for transparency from @ESB_Dota2 but they weren’t able to provide it, so from my pov, I think it is unfair for a company like them to keep operating. I have no hope that they will ever pay so, my goal here is to take a schemer company out of market.
— Mateus Cysne (@CysneMateus) March 23, 2025
It was implied that multiple teams were affected, including teams as big as Team Liquid. Both editions of Elite League were $1 million dollar prize pool events, so the total owed could be as high as two million.
ESB and Qatar Esports Federation (QESF) Elite League Non-payment Fiasco
In 2024, ESB launched the Elite League with support from QESF to fund three LAN tournaments, worth $2.6 million in prize pool. It was an agreement to push Esports in Qatar and MENA region.
Unfortunately, in the email, Gonzalo responded that since QESF undergoing a leadership change in November 2024, they have suspended their plans (where there was supposed to be an Elite League S3 planned for November-December 2024). As such, ESB was unable to reach immediate solution for the outstanding payouts, but reiterated that they anticipated the first round of payments will be confirmed based on their Q1 financial results by end of March 2025.
Fast forward to this month, and Gonzalo shared that ESB made a net loss of $2.2 million, primarily due to unfulfilled commitments from their partner. As such, it seems like there won’t be any prize pool payout anytime soon.
You may check out the rest of Cysne’s full email trail as it discusses other related topics to ESB’s poor financial situation at the moment. Nevertheless, Cysne is calling for other major Esports orgs that participated in Elite League, such as Team Liquid, Xtreme Gaming, and Team Falcons, to consider legal action against ESB.
It’s a sad state of affairs, but unfortunately one that will continue so long as irresponsible tournament organizers like ESB, Epulze, GESC, and others besides are allowed to host esports tournaments.