Entering Cheat Codes or to Play True: Where is Anti-Doping going within Esports?

Esports have become a staple within the sporting and entertainment industries however, in parallel with the success of these games there is much confusion to where anti-doping resides in this virtual arena. With the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) statement in October 2023 to create an Esports Games, policymakers and governing bodies must pursue anti-doping programs to be proactive against doping, cheating, or corruption. Nevertheless, some issues currently inhibit fair competition and intelligence gathering. These include no unified database of recorded bans or sanctions delivered to players or coaches for digital-doping rule violations (DDRVs) at esport events. In conjunction, there is no governing body to unify all the esport games and the multiple esport federations have different levels of interest and resources dedicated to anti-doping and or cheating. Finally, there is no current mention of esports from the World Anti-Doping Agency in their 2020 – 2024 strategy. Overall, the current literature highlights a lack of anti-doping education to teams and athletes, few policies in place to dissuade would-be dopers, and an omission of evidence that drug testing occurs at a similar standard to traditional sports in current esports events. WADA and anti-doping organisations (ADO’s) must proactively support esports events since most gaming competitions at the elite level have lucrative sponsorship and cash prizes, which raises the risk of corruption. The review offers insights and recommendations into the current literature involving esports and anti-doping policies.