2001 Ladbrokescasino.com World Pool Masters MATCHROOM SPORT are delighted to announce that Ladbrokescasino.com, part of the world's biggest bookmaking operation, has become the title sponsor of the 2001 World Pool Masters which takes place at Lakeside Shopping Centre from Friday 31st August - Sunday 2nd September. This is Ladbrokes first foray into pool sponsorship and henceforth, the event will officially be known as the 2001 Ladbrokescasino.com World Pool Masters. With 16 players from 12 nations taking part, the 2001 Ladbrokescasino.com World Pool Masters is one of the most prestigious invitational events on the pool calendar. Only the very best from world pool are invited and this year's field includes reigning World Champion Mika 'the Iceman' Immonen. Defending his World Masters crown will be Germany's Ralf Souquet and the big guns of the Philippines, Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante have fixed their sights on the £10,000 winner's cheque. Representing the UK will be the twin challenge of Steve Davis and Steve Knight and from the USA comes pool's most controversial character Earl ' the Pearl ' Strickland. As in previous years, tickets for the Ladbrokescasino.com World Pool Masters are free and available by the arena on the day. The Ladbrokescasino.com World Pool Masters will be broadcast as 15 x one hour programmes on Sky Sports in the UK and subsequently shown in over 80 countries around the world. Commented Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn, " I think Ladbrokes will get tremendous benefits from their association with the Masters and pool in general. In common with Ladbrokescasino.com, pool is exciting and fast growing and I look forward to a successful association between the two." John O'Reilly, Managing Director of Ladbrokes eGaming said: " We are delighted to be associated with such a major international pool tournament. Ladbrokes is increasingly becoming a global brand through the strength of our online presence, so it is great for us to be involved in a tournament featuring so many of the top players from around the world." Editor's Notes Ladbrokes, the world's biggest bookmaker, provides its customers with a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week service via over 2000 licensed betting shops, state of the art call centres in London, Gibraltar and Liverpool but increasingly through its rapidly developing eGaming services. Over 190,000 registered customers bet on the Internet with Ladbrokes at www.ladbrokes.co.uk, and www.ladbrokes.com and at the online casino www.ladbrokescasino.com. Ladbrokes was the first to launch betting via interactive TV with its pools product 'Vernons Matchball', the first to broadcast live pictures of greyhound races on the internet and the first company to broadcast an entire race meeting (Royal Ascot) on its betting websites. It offers WAP betting services at http://wap.ladbrokes.co.uk and http://wap.ladbrokes.com, and is developing next generation mobile betting services.