WPBSA STATEMENT

WPBSA STATEMENT

Following a thorough investigation into suspicious betting patterns on a match between John Sutton’s match with Jamie Burnett at the International Championship Qualifying event in Barnsley on 24th September 2014, John Sutton, an amateur player, was charged with breaches of the WPBSA Members Betting Rules.

WPBSA Chairman, Jason Ferguson suspended John Sutton on 9th February 2015 pending the outcome of a hearing. After a hearing on 24th March 2015, on 2nd April 2015 the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee found John Sutton to be in breach of rule 2.1.2 and 2.1.3 of the WPBSA Members Rules;
2.1.2                      Corruption:
2.1.2.1                   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;
2.1.3                      Misuse of inside information:
2.1.3.1                   to use for betting purposes, or to provide to any other person for such purposes, any information relating to the Tour and/or any Tournament or Match that the ember possesses by virtue of his position within the sport and that is not in the public domain or readily accessible by the public;

There will be a further hearing to decide on sanction that will take place on a later date.

John Sutton is an amateur player, not a member of the WPBSA and he does not hold a World Snooker Tour Card. He had gained access to the competition as an invitee through a Q School Amateur Ranking. The WPBSA operates a global governance policy working in partnership with the Betting industry, Gambling Commission SBIU and the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) and all competitors in World Snooker events, amateur or professional, are bound by the sports rules and regulations.