MGA and World Snooker sign data-sharing partnership

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has agreed a data-sharing partnership with the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association (WPBSA).

The WPBSA, the leading governing body in both snooker and English billiards, organises the main events on the snooker calendar. Its World Snooker arm organises tournament such as the World Open, UK Championship, Welsh Open, China Open and the World Snooker Championship.

In addition, it organises billiards competitions including the World Billiards Championship, the European Open and the Asian Grand Prix.

WPBSA vice chairman Nigel Mawer said the deal was important for the integrity of global snooker and billiards events.

“This is an important step forward in the battle against match-fixing and betting issues in snooker,” he said. “I am really pleased to have the support of the MGA, and the MGA’s Sports Integrity team in combating corruption in sport.”

MGA sports integrity manager Antonio Zerafa said the current novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has made this deal particularly important, as individual sports that can more easily be played with physical distancing become more popular.

“In these unprecedented times there has been a shift in focus from team sports to more individual sports,” he said. Hence, this period proved to be a perfect example of how stakeholders of sports and sports betting integrity need to widen their horizons in terms of collaboration.

“Our recent data-sharing agreement with the WPBSA places us in a position to be able to also assist individual sports in their fight against corruption.”