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Hearn to unveil zero tolerance rules on betting

John Higgins has been banned from all snooker until November 1 and fined £75,000 following frame-fixing allegations

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Barry Hearn has issued a stark warning to all darts and snooker players by declaring that anyone involved in any form of betting will be handed an "instant lifetime ban".

With match-fixing and spot-fixing allegations taking up a lot of the back pages in recent times, the world of sport has a battle on its hands to retain its integrity.

John Higgins was recently banned from all snooker until November 1 and fined £75,000 following frame-fixing allegations and World Snooker chairman Hearn will unveil new rules in October which will aim to rid the game of any illegal betting activity.

"Over the next couple of weeks we have a build-up to a board meeting on October 7, which will approve a whole range of new rules which will clearly set down the parameters that we want to see professional sport under and I believe it will take us to the very top of the queue in terms of integrity issues in sport," he said.

"We will be making sure that all the professional players involved in darts and snooker are aware that it is totally against the rules for anyone to have any financial gain whatsoever from any betting activity in these sports. In other words, no betting on anything. And that would involve not just betting on matches, but betting on parts of matches. This would involve savers, insurance bets on prize money, laying off bets on maximum breaks or high breaks. It's a total blanket on any form of gambling. Anyone that breaks these rules is an instant lifetime ban from the sport."

Hearn is adamant that there should be a zero tolerance when it comes to integrity in sport. He is so eager to stamp out any foul play that anyone who knows of any wrongdoing and does not make light of their knowledge - they too will be given a life ban.

"Integrity in sport should be a zero tolerance. We should always remember the most important people, not just the television companies that televise our sport or the sponsors who sponsor our sport, the most important people is the punter that buys the ticket or the viewer that watches professional sport at home on television.

"These people have got to enjoy their sport in the knowledge that the sport is cleaner than clean, that everyone is giving 100% all the time and that no-one is involved in any financial benefit whatsoever other than the prize money they are playing for. In terms of gambling, it needs to be completely and totally outlawed.

"We will be setting up, under Lord Stevens' guidance, private confidential emails and phone numbers so that anyone who has anything to report has the obligation to report that. Failure to report, once again comes back to a lifetime ban.

"It's time for all sport to take a very strong grip and a look at itself. We live in a different world, we live in a world of temptation, a world that requires education on the pitfalls that can be there by trusting other people, by being gullible and naive. We need to make sure we have systems in place to help these people, we don't want a problem we want to guarantee that we will never have a problem."

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