As reported by Clive Everton in the Guardian today, Peter Ebdon’s recent 5-0 defeat to Liang Wenbo in the Northern Ireland Trophy is under investigation by the Gambling Commission following a series of substantial bets being placed on the match. The detail makes for very interesting reading with bookmakers such as William Hill, Stan James and Roar all reporting unusual betting patterns for what was a relatively minor first round match.
Having followed snooker for a number of years however, I find it very difficult to believe that Ebdon has been involved with anything untoward here. Although not the most popular of players with some people, he comes across as a classy guy with a will to win greater than most players on the tour. At 38 years of age and being a multi-millionaire now living out in Dubai, it is difficult to see why he would want to get involved with anything that would jeopardise the rest of his career like this. It is also true to say that his record in the best of nine frame matches over the last few years isn’t the best so although still a very surprising result, perhaps it was not a total shock to see Wenbo run out a comfortable winner.
Hopefully the investigations will not take too long and for the sake of snooker, that nothing irregular is shown to have taken place.