Snooker has seen corruption allegations since its inception as a professional sport. Professional player and commentator Willie Thorne considered match-fixing endemic to snooker, noting that he himself was offered a bribe to throw a match.[1] The earliest known case of corruption in the game involved Joe Davis, pioneer of the professional sport and winner of the first 15 world championships, who is believed to have "carried" weaker opponents in multi-session matches to maximise gate revenue.[2] In 1968, The Sunday Times published an article titled "Great TV Snooker Frame-up", which exposed the fixing of non-tournament televised matches for "the artificial production of climaxes". Players Ray Edmonds, John Spencer, Gary Owen and Fred Davis recounted how there had been an understanding that if they were playing a televised match, end with a, and that they would play in a way to ensure dramatic tension. Davis said that he regarded these matches as "five frames of comedy: I hate taking part in something that's not genuine".[3]
Players have sometimes been coerced into fixing results. Thai players in particular have been targeted by cartels. James Wattana once received a death threat as part of a match-fixing attempt,[4] while Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon was the victim of a firebomb attack on his Rotherham home after the governing body opened an investigation into him and fellow Thai player Passakorn Suwannawat.[5]
Match-fixing is difficult to prove. Only four arrests have taken place in the sport's history—Silvino Francisco, Stephen Lee and Scottish practice partners Stephen Maguire and Jamie Burnett—but no criminal prosecution has ever been brought. In 2022, the sport was rocked by the biggest scandal in its history when a match-fixing ring was unmasked, which led to ten Chinese players—Liang Wenbo, Li Hang, Lu Ning, Yan Bingtao, Zhao Xintong, Zhao Jianbo, Chang Bingyu, Bai Langning, Chen Zifan and Zhang Jiankang—being banned for match-fixing offences. Ringleaders Liang and Li both received lifetime bans—the first ever handed out—from the sport. The only other players the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) have successfully prosecuted for match-fixing are Stephen Lee, Leo Fernandez, Yu Delu, Cao Yupeng, David John, Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon and amateur player John Sutton. Four other players—Quinten Hann, John Higgins, Joe Jogia, and Jamie Jones—have served bans on match-fixing related charges.
| Name | Match | Outcome | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Date | Opponent | Score | ||||
| Masters | 1–5 | Arrested, but later released without charge. | [6] [7] [8] [9] | ||||
| Masters | 1–5 | ||||||
| World Championship | –16 April 1995 | 2–10 | Found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute, and was banned for five years. Cleared of match-fixing. | [10] [11] | |||
| China Open | 2–5 | Hann was found in breach of rule 2.8, which states "a member shall not directly or indirectly solicit, attempt to solicit or accept any payment or any form of remuneration of benefit in exchange for influencing the outcome of any game of snooker or billiards." He was banned for eight years in 2006 and fined £10,000. | [12] [13] [14] [15] | ||||
| Malta Cup | 5–1 | WPBSA concluded that the match was not fixed. | [16] [17] [18] | ||||
| 1–5 | Lee was found guilty of breaching Rule 2.9 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations by accepting payment to influence the outcome of a match. The case was heard by Sports Resolutions UK from 9–11 September 2013. Lee received a twelve-year ban, which is back-dated to the beginning of his suspension on 12 October 2012 and will run until 12 October 2024. Lee also incurred £125,000 in costs awarded against him after an unsuccessful appeal. | ||||||
| 2–4 | |||||||
| 1–5 | |||||||
| UK Championship | | 9–7 | |||||
| –16 December 2008 | 9–5 | ||||||
| China Open | 1–5 | ||||||
| World Championship | 4–10 | ||||||
| Liang Wenbo | 0–5 | Investigated by the Gambling Commission over suspicious betting patterns. | [19] | ||||
| UK Championship | 3–9 | Arrested, but later released without charge. | [20] | ||||
| UK Championship | 9–3 | Arrested, but later released without charge. | |||||
| UK Championship | Unknown | Arrested and charged. Charges later dropped. | [21] [22] [23] | ||||
| World Series of Snooker | Matches did not go ahead | Found guilty of 'giving the impression' he would breach betting rules, and of failing to report the approach. Higgins was banned for six months, fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs. | [24] | ||||
| Shoot-Out | 21–32 (points) | Investigated by the WPBSA over suspicious betting patterns, but no charges were brought. | [25] | ||||
| Shoot-Out | 32–21 (points) | Investigated by the WPBSA over suspicious betting patterns, but no charges were brought. | |||||
| Shoot-Out | Jogia withdrew | Following an investigation into suspicious betting patterns Jogia was found guilty of breaching Rule 2.1.4.1, which states "It shall be a breach of these rules for a member to engage in any other conduct that is corrupt or fraudulent, or creates an actual or apparent conflict of interest for the member, or otherwise risks impairing public confidence in the integrity and/or the honest and orderly conduct of the Tour and/or any Tournament or Match." Jogia was banned for two years (spanning the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons) and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs. | [26] | ||||
| PTC – Event 3 | 0–4 | Investigated by the WPBSA over unusual betting patterns, but no charges were brought. | [27] [28] | ||||
| Premier League | 2–4 | Lee was suspended and investigated by the WPBSA and the Gambling Commission over suspicious betting patterns, but no charges were brought. | [29] | ||||
| Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon | Australian Open | 1–5 | The tie between Thanawat and Ross Muir at the Shanghai Masters in 2013 was investigated by the WPBSA and the Gambling Commission over unusual betting patterns, but in January 2014 the WPBSA closed the investigation after they found no evidence to link either player to the suspicious betting activity. The investigation into Thanawat was reopened in August 2015, following suspicious betting patterns regarding his match against Martin O'Donnell at the Paul Hunter Classic. Following a third investigation in 2022, Thanawat pleaded guilty to breaching Rule 2.1.2.1 by fixing the outcomes of six matches between 2013 and 2015. Thanawat was banned for nine years, reduced to six for his "guilty" plea. Of that period, he will serve two years nine months of his ban unconditionally, with the remaining three years and three months suspended, provided he assists the WPBSA in its anti-corruption work. His ban will run from 15th June 2022 until 14th March 2025, provided he complies with the terms of his sentence. He was ordered to pay £1,925 towards the WPBSA costs. | [30] [31] [32] | |||
| Shanghai Masters | 0–5 | ||||||
| China Open | 0–5 | ||||||
| Welsh Open | 0–4 | ||||||
| UK Championship | 0–6 | ||||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | 2–4 | ||||||
| Passakorn Suwannawat | Shanghai Masters | 4–5 | Investigated by the WPBSA and the Gambling Commission over unusual betting patterns but no charges were brought. | [33] | |||
| 0–6 | Sutton was found guilty by the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee of violating sections 2.1.2.1 and 2.1.3.1 of its Members Rules, in relation to match-fixing and misuse of inside information for betting purposes. Sutton received a six-year ban, which is back-dated to the beginning of his suspension on 9 February 2015 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs. | [34] [35] | |||||
| European Tour – Event 5 | 2–4 | Along with two other unknown matches in the 2014–15 snooker season, an independent tribunal found Lu guilty of fixing the results of four matches in total, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations. He was also found guilty of betting on matches. Lu was sentenced to a ban of five years and four months, reduced from eight years for his guilty plea, which will run until 6 April 2028. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 towards costs. His matches in the 2014–15 season are the earliest recorded matches to be fixed by a member of the Chinese match-fixing ring. | |||||
| European Masters | 0–5 | ||||||
| Indian Open | 4–3 | Yu Delu was found guilty of breaching Rule 2.1.2.1 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations by accepting payment to fix the outcome of a match. Yu admitted breaches of WPBSA Members Rules before a three-person independent tribunal chaired by David Casement QC held on 2 November 2018, following an investigation by the WPBSA Integrity Unit working with Sportradar Integrity Services and the UK Gambling Commission. Yu was sentenced to a twelve-year ban reduced to ten years and nine months, which is back-dated to the beginning of his suspension on 25 May 2018 and will run until 24 February 2029. Yu was also ordered to pay £20,823.80 in costs. | [36] [37] | ||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | 1–4 | ||||||
| Welsh Open | 4–3 | ||||||
| European Masters | 1–4 | ||||||
| Shanghai Masters | 3–5 | ||||||
| Welsh Open | 1–4 | Cao Yupeng was found guilty of breaching Rule 2.1.2.1 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations by accepting payment to fix the outcome of a match. Cao admitted breaches of WPBSA Members Rules before a three-person independent tribunal chaired by David Casement QC held on 21 September 2018, following an investigation by the WPBSA Integrity Unit working with Sportradar Integrity Services and the UK Gambling Commission. Cao was sentenced to an eight-year ban reduced to six, which is back-dated to the beginning of his suspension on 25 May 2018 and ran until 24 November 2020. The remaining period of the ban was suspended provided Cao assists the WPBSA in its anti-corruption work. He was also ordered to pay £15,558 in costs. Cao returned to the main tour in the 2021–22 season. | |||||
| Indian Open | [38] | 0–4 | |||||
| UK Championship | 1–6 | ||||||
| World Championship | 4–10 | Fernandez was found guilty by the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee of violating section 2.1.2.1 of its Members Rules, which prohibits its members "to fix or contrive, or to be a party to any effort to fix or contrive, the result, score, progress, conduct or any other aspect of the Tour and/or any Tournament or Match", in relation to suspicious betting on who would commit the first foul in the first frame of the match. Fernandez admitted his involvement in delivering the foul shot in the first frame of the match in question for other persons to make money through betting. He was banned from the sport for 15 months, set to run from 27 May 2016—when the interim suspension pending the investigation too effect—until 27 August 2017 and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs. As a condition of his sentence Fernandez had to assist the WPBSA in its anti-corruption education work. | [39] [40] | ||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | 1–4 | An independent tribunal found Yan guilty of fixing the results of four matches in total, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations. He was also found guilty of betting on matches. Yan was sentenced to a ban of five years, reduced from seven and a half years for his guilty plea, which will run until 11 December 2027. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 towards costs. | |||||
| Welsh Open | 2–4 | ||||||
| Turkish Masters | 4–5 | ||||||
| British Open | 3–4 | ||||||
| — | — | — | — | An independent tribunal found Zhao guilty of fixing the results of two matches in total, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations. Zhao was a party to fixing the results of two matches in which Yan Bingtao played on 3 March and 11 March 2022 at the Welsh Open and Turkish Masters respectively (see above). He was also found guilty of betting on matches. Zhao was sentenced to a ban of one year and eight months, reduced from two and a half years for his guilty plea, which will run until 1 September 2024. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 towards costs. | |||
| International Championship | 1–6 | David John was found guilty of breaching Rule 2.1.2.1 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations by accepting payment to fix the outcome of a match. John admitted breaches of WPBSA Members Rules following an investigation by the WPBSA Integrity Unit supported by Sportradar and the UK Gambling Commission SBIU. The case against John was heard on 11 January 2019 by the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee. John was sentenced to a seven-year ban reduced to five years and seven months, which was back-dated to the beginning of his suspension on 22 May 2018 and ran until 21 December 2023. John was also ordered to pay £17,000 in costs. | [41] [42] | ||||
| China Open | 0–5 | ||||||
| International Championship | 1 | Jamie Jones was found guilty of breaching Rule 4.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations by failing to report the approach to David John in the manipulation of the outcome of the match between John and Graeme Dott at the International Championship Qualifiers in 2016. Jones admitted breaches of WPBSA Members Rules following an investigation by the WPBSA Integrity Unit supported by Sportradar and the UK Gambling Commission SBIU. The case against Jones was heard on 11 January 2019 by the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee. Jones was sentenced to a sixteen-month ban reduced to twelve months, which is back-dated to the beginning of his suspension on 11 October 2018 and ran until 10 October 2019. Jones was also ordered to pay £9,000 in costs. He returned to the Snooker main tour in the 2020–21 season. | |||||
| 6 | |||||||
| European Masters | 1–5 | An independent tribunal found Zhang guilty of fixing the result of his match against Jack Lisowski at the European Masters, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations. He was also found guilty of betting on matches. Zhang was sentenced to a ban of two years and eleven months, reduced from four years and five months for his guilty plea, which will run until 1 December 2025. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 towards costs. | |||||
| European Masters | 1–5 | Despite plans to fix the results of three matches being abandoned in two cases, an independent tribunal found Chen guilty of fixing or conspiring to fix the results of three matches in total, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations. Chen was sentenced to a ban of five years, reduced from seven and a half years for his guilty plea, which will run until 20 December 2027. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 towards costs. | |||||
| British Open | Mink Nutcharut | 4–2 | |||||
| Northern Ireland Open | Ng On-yee | 4–1 | |||||
| Northern Ireland Open | 0–4 | An independent tribunal found Zhao guilty of fixing the result of his match against Aaron Hill at the Northern Ireland Open, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations. He was also found guilty of betting on matches. Zhao was sentenced to a ban of two years and four months, reduced from three years and six months for his guilty plea, which will run until 7 April 2025. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 towards costs. | |||||
| British Open | Zhao Xintong | 1–4 | Even though Bai backed out of the plan to fix the result of his match at the British Open against Zhao Xintong, an independent tribunal found Chen guilty of conspiring to fix the result of one match, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations. Bai was sentenced to a ban of two years and eight months, reduced from four years for his guilty plea, which will run until 6 August 2025. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 | ||||
| British Open | 1–4 | An independent tribunal found Chang guilty of fixing the result of his match against Jamie Jones at the British Open, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations. He was also found guilty of betting on matches. Zhou was sentenced to a ban of two years, reduced from three for his guilty plea, which will run until 7 December 2024. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 towards costs. | |||||
| — | — | — | — | An independent tribunal found Liang guilty of fixing or conspiring to fix the results of five matches in total, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations, and of inducing players to fix the results of nine matches, in violation of Rule 2.1.2.4. He was also found guilty of betting on matches, threatening Chang Bingyu, destroying evidence, and not cooperating with the investigation. Liang received a lifetime ban and was ordered to pay £43,000 towards costs. | |||
| — | — | — | — | An independent tribunal found Li guilty of fixing or conspiring to fix the results of seven matches in total, in breach of Rules 2.1.2.1 and 2.2 of the WPBSA Members Rule and Regulations, and of inducing players to fix the results of seven matches, in violation of Rule 2.1.2.4. He was also found guilty of betting on matches, destroying evidence, and not cooperating with the investigation. Li received a lifetime ban and was ordered to pay £43,000 towards costs. | |||
| Welsh Open | 0–4 | King was suspended with immediate effect on 18 March 2023, following irregular betting patterns reported to the WPBSA. | [43] [44] | ||||
Between October 2022 and January 2023, amid the biggest match-fixing investigation in the sport's history,[45] [46] the WPBSA suspended ten Chinese players—Liang Wenbo, Li Hang, Lu Ning, Yan Bingtao, Zhao Xintong, Zhao Jianbo, Chang Bingyu, Bai Langning, Chen Zifan and Zhang Jiankang—and subsequently brought match-fixing charges against all of them.[47] [48] [49] In total, they were charged with fixing or conspiring to fix the results of 24 matches between 2014 and October 2022. In addition to the 22 matches listed below, Lu Ning was also charged with fixing two other matches in the 2014–15 snooker season.
The bulk of the match-fixing was arranged by Liang Wenbo and Li Hang, sometimes working with each other and, at other times, independently. The two players had a slightly different modus operandi; whilst Li was often cautious and conducted his fixes with a view to evading detection, Liang's focus was on maximising financial gain and he often intimidated or threatened the younger players. The inquiry heard from three players who were ultimately not charged: Cao Yupeng, Xu Si and Yuan Sijun. Cao was approached twice by Liang but he and his wife declined to carry out the fixes. Xu Si also refused to fix a result when Liang approached him. Yuan was regarded as an "unimpressive" witness, but ultimately no charges were brought against him.
The cases were heard by an independent disciplinary tribunal, and in June 2023 all ten players were successfully prosecuted on various match-fixing charges in 20 of the 24 matches. Seven of the ten players were all also found guilty of betting offences. Liang and Li both received lifetime bans from the sport, whilst the other eight players received bans ranging from five years and four months to one year and eight months, backdated to the beginning of their suspensions. Liang and Li were each required to pay £43,000 in costs, and the other eight were each required to pay £7,500 in costs.[50] [51]
| rowspan="3" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charges brought against Chinese match-fixing ring[52] | ||||||||||
| Event | Date | Player | Score | Opponent | ||||||
| European Tour – Event 5 | 13 December 2014 | 2–4 | Oliver Lines | colspan="2" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | 28 August 2016 | 1–4 | Dominic Dale | colspan="3" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| UK Championship | 25 November 2021 | 6–0 | Ng On-yee | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| 10 October 2021 – 6 March 2022 | — | — | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||||
| colspan="1" | Inducing another to match-fix | |||||||||
| Welsh Open | 3 March 2022 | 2–4 | Ricky Walden | colspan="3" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| Turkish Masters | 11 March 2022 | 4–5 | Oliver Lines | colspan="3" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| European Masters | 22 July 2022 | 1–5 | Jack Lisowski | colspan="9" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| European Masters | 23 July 2022 | 0–5 | Robert Milkins | colspan="1" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| colspan="1" | Inducing another to match-fix | |||||||||
| European Masters | 24 July 2022 | 1–5 | Aaron Hill | colspan="6" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| British Open | 9 August 2022 | 4–2 | Mink Nutcharut | colspan="6" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | 23 August 2022 | 4–1 | Ng On-yee | colspan="1" | colspan="6" | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||
| colspan="1" | Inducing another to match-fix | |||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | 23 August 2022 | 4–1 | Dylan Emery | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | 25 August 2022 | 3–4 | Jimmy White | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||||
| colspan="1" | Inducing another to match-fix | |||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | 26 August 2022 | 0–4 | Aaron Hill | colspan="2" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| British Open | 26 September 2022 | 1–4 | Zhao Xintong | colspan="5" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| British Open | 27 September 2022 | 4–1 | Zhou Yuelong | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| British Open | 28 September 2022 | 4–0 | Andy Lee | colspan="1" | Conspiring to match-fix | |||||
| colspan="1" | Inducing another to match-fix | |||||||||
| British Open | 28 September 2022 | 1–4 | Jamie Jones | colspan="1" | colspan="3" | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||
| colspan="1" | Inducing another to match-fix | |||||||||
| British Open | 29 September 2022 | 3–4 | Jordan Brown | colspan="1" | colspan="1" | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||
| colspan="1" | Inducing another to match-fix | |||||||||
| British Open | 29 September 2022 | 4–3 | Anthony Hamilton | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| British Open | 29 September 2022 | 0–4 | Judd Trump | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||
| Scottish Open | 13 October 2022 | 4–2 | Yuan Sijun | Conspiring to match-fix | ||||||
| Inducing another to match-fix | ||||||||||