Online betting and gaming company Dafabet has agreed to become the title sponsor of snooker’s 2014 World Championship.
The tournament runs from April 19 to May 5 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and the top 16 players in the world, alongside 16 qualifiers, will compete for a record top prize of £300,000 (€360,000/$500,000). Dafabet’s sponsorship is helping to increase the overall prize fund to more than £1.2m.
Dafabet is the fourth gaming company to take on the title sponsor role of the World Snooker Championship since legislation regarding the advertising of tobacco products brought an end to cigarette brand Embassy’s long-running backing of the event in 2005.
From 2006-2008, 888.com took on the designation before being replaced by BetFred.com and, for last year’s tournament, Betfair.
The 17-day event will be televised in more than 70 countries worldwide to a global audience of over 300 million. Ronnie O’Sullivan will be defending the title he won for a fifth time last year.