Snooker and the World of Gambling

A snooker referee lines up the perfect game. (Image: roibu / Alamy)

The world of snooker has not been without its own controversies. The sport itself has been home to some of its notable faces; one closest to home in Ireland has been Alex “Hurricane” Higgins, who became the youngest world champion in Britain throughout the 1970s until his defeat in the 1980s.

During that time, snooker was mired in controversies, not by the gambling industry (casino sites and sportsbetting platforms) but by its own players responsible for their own downfall. 

Alex “Hurricane” Higgins became a world snooker champion in 1972 and 1980, until he conceded defeat several times to Steve Davis, who won several tournaments, starting with the Scottish Open. (Image: Homer Sykes / Alamy)

The term “match-fixing” is a unique characteristic in the world of sport. There have been several influencers in charge of the illicit practise. Years after Alex Higgins and Steve Davis, prominent snooker players like Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Lee entered the scene, playing professional snooker and winning tournaments, until the phenomenal practise known as “match-fixing” came about. 

However, in the 1980s when snooker was a popular sport in the UK and Ireland, even though players like Alex Higgins were involved with excessive drinking and smoking, as was the scene at the time, it in itself was more so scandalous with the emergence of match-fixing. 

Higgins, who would win the World Championships, beating his opponent Jimmy White in 1982 which was a phenomenal moment, his popularity waned due to his alcohol and drug abuse. 

He passed in 2010 from cancer at the age of 61 and was remembered as “the People’s Champion”. However, at the time, betting was prominent in the world of snooker, and people would come to place bets on who they considered would be the winner.

Today, snooker has earned its reputation from being a small, working-class, pub-like sport to being a professional, gentlemanly class of players who would compete evenly and win matches fair and square. But as a sport, its not like others. It has been with its many scandals.

First of all, what does match-fixing mean? 

Match-fixing is defined as the act of influencing the course or result of a sporting event for personal, sporting or financial gain. Relevant to match fixing are the sharing of insider information (e.g. is a player injured and unavailable to play?), betting on one’s own competitive bout and tanking, the deliberate underperformance by a competitor or improper withdrawal before the conclusion of a match. 

Match-fixing, similar to cheating, is categorised as an offence by most sporting organisations. 

The World Professional Snooker and Billiards Association (WPSBA), a sporting body like FIFA and PGA is responsible for the management and rules of snooker. There has been several high-profile cases of individuals who have ran themselves in trouble with the association due to their involvement in fixing matches. 

Usually, they rely on the betting industry for its predetermined results and its fixtures but the most important element of snooker has been its close relationship of gambling and how the two had corresponded with each other in the 1980s, but more to the point, there have been stories of how snooker players often broke the rules by engaging in match fixing. 

One of the most prominent up to date has been the case of Stephen Lee, a former professional English snooker player who was suspended by and from the WPSBA when he was caught up on several occasions between 2008 and 2009 for match-fixing. 

The most notable of this was the match between him and John Higgins which was hosted by the Premier League in 2012. Lee was investigated by the WPSBA and West Midlands Police over a match in 2009 and in 2010, he was arrested over irregular betting patterns as part of the investigation, so this wasn’t just breaking the rules, it was breaking the law. 

He is currently serving a 12-year suspension and was ordered to pay costs for an appeal hearing, but up to date, he has not done so. 

Stephen Lee - former professional snooker player who was suspended by the WPSBA for his involvement in match-fixing between 2008 and 2009. (Image: Imaginechina Limited / Alamy)

But Lee wasn’t the only one to be investigated for match-fixing. A significant number of Chinese players have been investigated and banned from professional snooker over match-fixing related incidents. Of the most notable were Yu Delu and Cao Yupeng, whom each were suspended for match-fixing related offences and are currently serving bans for their involvement.

Cu Yupeng and Yu Delu: Professional Chinese players suspended for match-fixing. Match-fixing relates to odd betting patterns identified by sporting organisations. (Image: Casinos.com)

Match-fixing is not something unheard of in the world of sport, but corruption is in every sphere of influence, and in snooker which a respectable enough game has been regretted by many people for the tarnishing of it by questionable people who only want to use the game to their own advantage.