Mark King syspended with immediate effect

Whats the latest on this ?

No news since he was suspended. 

WillHill still sitting on the money from the match in question.

It would appear so, yes.  I still haven't been paid out / refunded, nothing has been mentioned by the authorities, and King is still not playing.

Very interesting, mate.  The match in question (certainly the red flag raising one) was 13th Feb, so we're already past 7 months, and only one month shy of the total time the investigation into the Chinese players took!

Being a bit pedantic here mate but from Liangs suspension to decision was 8 months but i think that investigation was ongoing for months prior to that, possibly flowing seamlessly from the assault investigation and charge. But i think you're nail on head there with resources. They obviously threw the kitchen sink at that one and, for whatever reason, they seemed determined to have it wrapped up by the end of the season and not drag on into summer. Had a look at past cases and 6/7 months seems about average though a relatively simple case like Jamie Jones was all done in 4 which you'd think might apply to King. Don't know really, maybe it's just not a priority, i don't see why they couldn't at least release some generic, nothing statement - investigation is ongoing, player remains suspended etc - just to let people know they haven't forgotten about it or are hoping they do and King just disappears and we all carry on like nothing ever happened!

Jesus, I'd actually forgotten about the Sam & Dave incidents. Surely they were both given fairly hefty fines but if so, why no announcement? If no penalty was given out, then it needs to be explained why not. They need to be more transparent about this stuff and it's another reminder we're basically dealing with a guys running a professional set up like a bunch of amateurs. At least the scoreboards seem to be working which is a major achievement where these guys are concerned

I did email WST on Thursday morning re the status of the King investigation, BTW, and have so far got nothing back.

Think you'll be waiting mate. I mailed them a couple of times before, just routine queries, and never got as much as a whistle back. I'd bet hard cash whoever the press guy is there has his email set up so that enquiries from the general public go straight to junk.

I got a reply after chasing it!

Just confirms that the investigation is still on-going and they can't comment on it for now.

  That thought had crossed my mind, too!  They (bless 'em) included some links to IBAS in case I was unhappy with how WH were dealing with it   I thought that was slightly strange, since I have no doubt that WH will settle (either way) when the results of the investigation have been made public.

I am assuming that if they've got him "bang to rights" that bets will be voided and stakes returned.  If not, I presume I'll get paid out.

365 settled straight away ([cynic mode on]but then I had backed King there [/cynic mode off])

Yeah, saw that earlier mate. Wasn't personally aware of any more, unless you include King which seemed to be just a single match. Don't know qhat exactly he's suggesting there tbh.

Yeah dont know what to make of it mate. A couple of cases, like Yu Delu, were settled in 2018, though the relevant matches were earlier, so maybe he's counting those. But i don't know if that even adds up. If only we had a hector nunns to quiz him about it

Just realised, we're another three and a bit months on and almost up to 11 months since the match in question, and still no announcement from WST....

It does hugely have the feel of having been done, dusted and swept under the carpet, mate, there is no getting away from that. 

I accept he has been through a lot in his life - plenty of it not at all good, and there may well have been "mitigating circumstances" that prompted whatever happened to happen (God know, his demons are well documented), but it's a dangerous road to go down, especially when they were quite happy to publicly hang the Chinese lads out to dry.

I doubt it will just go away, and if they are shown to have tried to make it go away, that's a very bad look for the sport indeed.

Interesting that someone has called Butch out as being bent in that thread, too!

It is hard to say, mate.  It is such a mentally taxing game, as well as just being bloody difficult full-stop, that it doesn't take much of a drop-off for things to look really bad, really quickly. 

There's always that grey area, too, where you might not be giving it your all trying to win, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're deliberately trying to tank either.  You can't play at full throttle the whole time, that is clear.  Even peak Ronnie/Judd have/had dips.

Is there a clue in you mentioning "D game"? 

He is an interesting one, because they always love to tell us about his love for the game, and how, even if there's not a pro-tournament on, he'll still be playing in some pro-am or exhibition.  He's obviously been struggling with his eyes for a while, which I think explains the massive drop-off in recent years, and that remains unresolved.  That night he battered Shon last (?) season, he clearly took tremendous delight from it, and I think surprised himself.  Then he goes and gets battered NTO....  Without knowing about how players prepare ahead of tournaments (eg extra practice), it's hard to read too much into things like that, I think.

Crackerjack alright, mate! 

Sent you a message, BTW 

A year on, I thought I'd just try my luck again with Hills.  After over an hour of chat bots, sitting, waiting, chat operators, more sitting and waiting, and a supervisor, they are still refusing to do anything until there is an official announcement from the WPBSA.