Scottish prosecutors ruled yesterday that there is not enough evidence to press criminal charges against snooker players Stephen Maguire and Jamie Burnett for fixing a match.

Police questioned the pair after their December 2008 UK Championship match attracted heavy betting that successfully predicted the 9-3 score.

Strathclyde Police sent a report on the case to the Scottish Crown Counsel, which could not find sufficient evidence to support a successful conviction.

But snooker’s governing body will now decide whether it can take disciplinary action.

Maguire won by the 9-3 margin after his fellow Scot missed a routine black in the 12th frame that would have made the score 8-4.

Both players denied wrongdoing and promised to cooperate in any investigation.

“We are treating this case very seriously,” World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association chairman Jason Ferguson said. “We will now be given access to the evidence connected with the case, and our disciplinary committee will review that evidence thoroughly.”

Snooker’s integrity has been regularly scrutinised, especially since Australia’s Quinten Hann was banned for eight years in 2006 for throwing frames.

Four-time world champion John Higgins was given a six-month ban in September following a tabloid newspaper sting in which he discussed the possibility of fixing frames in return for money.

Higgins was cleared of fixing but was given the ban, which was backdated to May 2010, and fined £75,000 for failing to report the approach to fix matches.