Skilled Snooker participant Mark King has been handed a ban for match-fixing.
The information comes after Snooker‘s governing physique, the WBPSA, issued a assertion on Friday morning.
The assertion confirmed that the Englishman was discovered responsible after an investigation was carried out into irregular betting on his February 2023 Welsh Open match towards Joe Perry and his December 2022 match towards John Higgins.
It’s stated that King supplied “Inside data on these matches that had been used for betting”, however solely the fees concerning the Higgins match had been dismissed.
Perry and Higgins weren’t accused of something and weren’t concerned within the case.
King has been suspended since March twenty third pending the investigation however now faces additional punishment.
The 50-year-old denied the fees however has been banned from the game for 5 years and should pay £69,299.50 in prices. He has till twenty eighth November to attraction the choice if he needs.
The chairman of the WBPSA, Jason Ferguson, stated: “I’ve identified Mark King since he was very younger. He’s a really skilled participant who has loved nice success and I’m deeply saddened to learn the discovering on this case.
Nevertheless, the integrity of this sport will all the time be our primary precedence. This case is testomony to the truth that no stone will ever be left unturned in making certain that the a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of snooker followers worldwide and our many international companions can have full confidence on this unbelievable sport.”
King is a former Nothern-Eire Open champion and reached a career-high of world quantity 11 in 2003.
Match-fixing has lengthy been an issue within the sport. Ten Chinese language gamers had been banned in 2023 for the offence. Stephen Lee is one other high-profile case—his ban just lately ended after 12 years.