Snooker Faces Match-fixing Probe

Snooker is under investigation by the betting regulator, the Gambling Commission, because of suspicious betting patterns during last week's Malta Cup. The tournament, whose round-robin format produced some matches with nothing at stake, came under scrutiny when bookmakers were alarmed by unusual flows of money during in-play markets.

The commission said it had received tip-offs about suspected match-fixing, which is a criminal offense which can carry a prison term of up to two years. Dialog is under way between the commission and World Snooker, which has vowed to analyse every match about which allegations have been made. Its spokesman said: "We have an agreement with the Association of British Bookmakers [ABB] whereby we are contacted confidentially if and when irregular betting patterns are detected."

However, there is concern about how far World Snooker's agreement on information-sharing extends. Despite several entreaties from the online betting exchange, Betfair, snooker's officials prefer to deal only with the ABB. World Snooker is unusual in not entering into a memorandum of understanding with Betfair. The governing body declined to comment on why it had no such agreement.