TOTESPORT, one of the country’s leading betting organisations, is to sponsor the Grand Prix which begins in Preston tomorrow.
World Snooker have agreed a two-tier deal in which totesport will become headline sponsor for the Grand Prix and snooker’s official betting partner for the 2004/05 season..
The Grand Prix, staged at the Guild Hall in Preston, is the curtain-raiser to the new season and will be televised by BBC Sport. Top seed is World No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan, who finished last season in scintillating style by winning his second Embassy World Championship title.
In addition to snooker’s established top stars, the event will have a strong international field with players competing such as Jin Long from China, Marco Fu from Hong Kong, Thailand’s James Wattana, Australia’s Quinten Hann
and Neil Robertson and crowd favourite Tony Drago from Malta.
The news comes at the end of an excellent week for snooker in which it has been announced that Eurosport is to be host broadcaster for the British Open in Brighton next month.
Sir Rodney Walker, Chairman of World Snooker, said: ‘This is more excellent news at the end of a very good week. I would like to welcome totesport into snooker. Both parties are very pleased with the deal and this is a major
step forward for the sport.’
Joe Scanlon, Managing Director of totesport, commented: ‘We are delighted to have teamed up with World Snooker to be the title sponsor of the totesport Grand Prix. This is an excellent fit for our brand and will give us international exposure. We look forward to working closely with each other over the coming season.’
The agreement is initially for one year, but there are options to extend it into a longer term deal.
Charlie Burt, Business Development Director of World Snooker, said: ‘Totesport is an established company which has shown progressive and forward thinking. This is an excellent match with the development of the snooker brand and our global marketing strategy. They are joining with snooker to build the brand internationally. We are looking forward to working with them.’
Totesport is one of the major betting organisations in Britain with over 450 shops, 4,500 employees and a major presence on each of the 59 racecourses. Totepool has a unique product offering of pool betting on horseracing which can be accessed through the following channels: on course, by phone, on-line and in over 5,000 betting shops across the UK.
For more information contact Ivan Hirschowitz (World Snooker) on
0117-317-8258 or Liza Wallace (totesport) on 07899-062241