William Hill the UK bookmaker which operates a variety of online gambling sites including William Hill Bingo is to the sponsor the snooker's UK Championship. The nine day event which is shown the BBC TV channels is the sports’ second biggest ranking event and as part of the deal will be called the " £625 000 Williamhill.com UK Championship”

The event will start this weekend and is being held at the Barbican in York.

Barry Hearn, theWorld Snooker Chairman commented: "The UK Championship is one of the highlights of the snooker calendar and receives outstanding exposure through coverage on BBC and across the world, providing exceptional brand exposure for the sponsor to hundreds of millions of fans globally.”

The chief marketing officer at William Hill, Kristof Fahy, added: “The UK Championship is one of the crown jewels in the world of snooker and we're delighted to put our name to such a prestigious event. Our sponsorship of the UK Championship gives us the opportunity to promote our online and mobile betting products to a global audience.”