> Cheaters are serial cheaters, and they will deny deny deny

Please cite research on that.

> There is a reason why sports and just about everything else employs zero-tolerance policies.

The sport doesn't employ zero-tolerance. The verdicts issued by WADA for cheating (doping) in sports are usually a suspension for ~1-6 years (out of the top of my head).

For some e-sports (e.g. ESIC and CS:GO), the verdicts are similar: a few months to maybe 2-3 years suspension from official tournaments.