OpTic Texas star Indervir ‘iLLeY’ Dhaliwal reveals that he made somewhere around $100K as a Call of Duty player winning underage tournaments.
After the Advanced Warfare season in 2015, the Call of Duty World League was formed and required everyone to be at least 18 years old to compete.
This meant that young guns like Simp, TJHaly, iLLeY, and more would have to wait a few years before getting their time in the spotlight.
However, instead of wasting his talent, iLLeY streamed and played in online tournaments where the prodigy earned a hefty paycheck before starting his CDL career.
Illey talks about earnings before CDL stint
In an appearance on Attach’s ‘Stay Attached’ podcast, the current ROKKR pro asked iLLeY a question people have been dying to know: “How much money did you make in total during your SnD career.”
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He didn’t know exactly how much came directly from Search and Destroy matches. But, between tournaments, streaming, and his eUnited Cadets salary, the CoD Champ claims to have earned “over $100K.”
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Attach was extremely impressed with the six-figure payout iLLeY managed to rack up. And to top all of this, the money was earned prior to him turning 18.
To put this in perspective, the 2018 CoD World Championship saw a $1.5 million prize pool, with each winning player taking home $150K. So it’s almost like he had won a major event before making his debut.
The now-OpTic pro didn’t begin his official CoD career until 2020, which was when the CDL was founded. In his first season, iLLeY saw himself on Dallas Empire, who would go on to win the World Championship.
Currently, he sits as the 17th highest-earning CoD player of all time and if we added his $100K from his underage days, he would rank just outside the top-10.