The sport of Snooker is back under the spotlight after irregular betting patterns were spotted during last week's invitational Malta Cup tournament.

The round-robin format produced some matches with nothing at stake and bookmakers were alarmed by unusual flows of money during in-play markets.
 
The Gambling Commission, Britain's betting regulator says it had received information from a "small number of licensees".
 
Former players Quinten Hann and Peter Francisco have been recipients of bans for matters relating to match-fixing.

Francisco received a five-year ban while Hann got an eight-year sentence.
 
Snooker's governing body, WPBSA, added: "We have as agreement with the Association of British Bookmakers whereby we are contacted confidentially if and when irregular betting patterns are detected.

"In such cases the match in question is carefully monitored by our most senior officials and a thorough assessment of the players' performance is made.
"In past incidents where players have been judged guilty of match fixing or intention to match-fix, which are extremely rare, we have taken a particularly stringent line."

The penalties for being involved in match-fixing, which is a criminal offence, are severe. As well as suspension from the game it can also carry a prison sentence of up to two years.
 
In 1995, South African Francisco received his punishment after an investigation into his World Championship match against Jimmy White.

There were an unusual number of bets on a 10-2 win for White, which was the eventual outcome.
 
Meanwhile, Hann was handed his term in 2006 after a WPBSA investigation into a story by The Sun which alleged that the Australian agreed to lose a game at the 2005 China Open in return for money. Hann denied the charges.