THE World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association have announced no further action will be taken over two matches investigated for suspicious betting patterns at last year’s Shanghai Masters qualifying event.
Matches taking place in August at Doncaster and involving Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon and Ross Muir, and Passakorn Suwannawat and Mohamed Khairy, were the subject of scrutiny after bets placed on Muir and Khairy to win.
The WPBSA probe involved liaising with partners in the betting industry, and also the Sports Betting Intelligence Unit at the Gambling Commission.
But after a probe that saw the two Thai players interviewed, it was revealed on Wednesday that no evidence had been found to link players to the betting activity.
Suwannawat has since returned to Thailand, and with funding withdrawn from the national governing body looks unlikely to resume his career on the main tour.
The full WPBSA statement is found below:
“In August 2013 the WPBSA’s global gambling monitoring network notified the association that there were unusual betting patterns in relation to two matches during the Qualifying event for the Shanghai Masters played in Doncaster.
“The first match was between Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon and Ross Muir and bets were placed on Ross Muir to win. The second match was between Passakorn Suwannawat and Mohamed Khairy and bets were placed on Mohamed Khairy to win.
“These bets were considered suspicious as there appeared to be a disregard for the risk of the bets being unsuccessful given the amount of money that was placed and the odds available when considered in the context of the betting history of the individuals making the bets.
“The WPBSA initiated an investigation into the matches and in partnership with the Sports Betting Intelligence Unit at the Gambling Commission have conducted extensive enquiries into the unusual betting patterns surrounding these matches.
“The WPBSA’s investigation process included liaising with partners in the betting industry and conducting enquiries in the UK and Thailand. Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon and Passakorn Suwannawat were interviewed by the WPBSA as part of this process.
“The WPBSA have not found evidence to show any link a between the Thai players and the suspicious betting activity. The WPBSA will therefore take no further action in relation to this suspicious betting.”