Peter Ebdon’s match to China’s Liang Wembo is to be the subject of a betting investigation after Ebdon was demolished 5-0 by the world number 40. First it was tennis, then football, now a snooker match is the subject of match-fixing allegations.
According to The Guardian, one spread betting firm refused to payout £25,000 to a punter who placed a bet on Ebdon losing 5-0 as they thought it was extremely suspicious. Another irregular bet was that someone gambled on Ebdon failing to make a break of over 50 in the game – as during the last season Ebdon had breaks over 50 on many occasions. The punter also wanted to wager more than the betting company’s limit, but after accepting his bet the firm also refused to pay him out due to the unusual nature of the bet, as Ebdon did indeed fail to produce a break of more than 50.
Several other bookmakers also reported that they had taken many more bets on Liang winning 5-0 than they would have expected.
What also makes the betting on the game even more questionable is that all the bets placed with William Hill and Stan James on a 5-0 Liang victory were in betting shops, so the punters didn’t have to reveal their identities.
Stan James spokesman Nic O’Hanlon told The Guardian, “We didn’t have any bets for 5-1. They were all for 5-0.”
The match was a second round game in the Malta Cup in Valetta back in August. After the match one of the bookmakers contacted The Gambling Commission about the irregular bets and as a result they will be launching an investigation to discover whether match-fixing has occurred.
Ebdon the 2002 snooker world champion, was interviewed after the game and claimed he had tried his best. He said, “Liang played extremely well. I just had a couple of half chances. I practice with him a lot. He’s a great talent.”
When told there had been a great number of bets placed on Liang to win 5-0, Ebdon replied, “It’s not something that interests me. It’s not something I’d like to comment on. I go out to give it my best.”
Gary Baldrey, the manager of Liang Wembo also denied that the Chinese player knew about the heavy betting on him and that nobody had spoke to him about fixing the game.
