Match-fixing scandal threatens to turn billiards boom into bankruptcy

The match-fixing charges against 10 pool players Chinese in the biggest corruption scandal in one of the sports fastest growing stadium in the world have left fans and organizers fearful for the future of the game.

The players, including 2021 Masters champion Yan Bingtao and 2021 UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong, have been suspended as part of an investigation into allegations of “manipulation of match results for commercial purposes.” of Betting” by the integrity unit of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker. Association (WPBSA).

There is talk of millionaire bets

The revelations have raised questions about the influence of betting syndicates, often run by organized crime gangs, in a sport with a growing following around the world.

The rise of snooker, a game invented by British army officers in India in the 1870s, has been largely fueled by a growing interest in the sport in East Asia, particularly China.

Once largely confined to the United Kingdom and Ireland, where it came to attract large television audiences in the 1980s and 1990s, snooker’s further growth was fueled by the rise of Asian players, such as James Wattana of Thailand and Ding Junhui of China, whose 2005 China Open victory at the age of 18 started the rise of Chinese billiards.

The sport is now played by more than 120 million people worldwide and attracts a television audience of 500 million. She strives to complete her image transformation from a game played in smoke-filled halls by competing for inclusion in the 2028 Olympics.

Sportradar’s 2021 annual report on corrupt betting and match-fixing recorded 903 suspected matches across 10 sports, in 76 countries, a record over the 17 years it has monitored sports integrity.

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