In August 2020, the professional esports league ESL suspended the coaches of the CS:GO teams Hard Legion, Heroic, and MIBR following an investigation by the Esports Integrity Commission. Further investigation revealed that the cheating was in fact far more extensive than that: a report released in September 2020 revealed that 37 coaches had taken advantage of the bug in some way.

These coaches were also sanctioned by the ESIC, of which ESL, DreamHack, and other leagues and tournaments are members, through a standardized "sanctions and concessions matrix" that applies point deductions based on the frequency and duration of spectator bug abuse. Four levels of sanctions were applied, ranging from five months to three years, based on the total number of penalty points, adjusted by "concession" modifiers such as confession of a crime or cooperation in an investigation.

And now Valve has imposed its own penalty based on the ESIC demerit point system, and coaches found to be exploiting the bug will be disqualified from future CS:GO majors.

Given the extent to which the spectator bug has been abused and the length of time it has gone unnoticed, Valve has changed the rules so that only players are allowed in rooms and servers during online matches. Coaches and other team staff are not allowed in rooms or servers during online matches.

Last week, the ESIC suspended 35 CS:GO players for one to five years for gambling on matches.