Record prize money announced for snooker's 2025 Masters tournament

Players who qualify for the 2025 Masters at the Alexandra Palace will be competing for a slice of a record-breaking total prize fund of over one-million-pounds.

Part of snooker’s fabled Triple Crown Series, the Masters has been a permanent fixture on the professional snooker circuit every year since 1975. An elite-level event in which only the world’s top 16 players are initially invited, for some fans, the eight-day extravaganza has now established itself as the second most important title on the calendar.

Since 2012 (with the exception of 2021 due to Covid-19), the home of the Masters has been at the atmospheric ‘Ally Pally’ in North London, and in recent years there have been approximately up to 2,000 fans in attendance for some sessions.

At the inaugural installment nearly 50 years ago, champion John Spencer collected £2,000 for his efforts. The winner of The Paul Hunter Trophy on January 19, 2025 will bank £350,000 - a £100,000 increase on the top prize that has been awarded since 2020.

The overall prize fund on offer for the 2025 edition will be £1,015,000; up 40% from 12 months before (£725,000).

Prize money in several competitions on the World Snooker Tour for the upcoming 2024/25 season have gone up; all four Home Nations Series events and the German Masters will each have overall pots of £500,000.

There are new earning opportunities too with the Xi’an Grand Prix in China and the Saudi Arabia Masters - the latter featuring a two-million-pound plus prize fund - holding their first editions later this calendar year. Both of these are ranking events.

During the 2024 World Snooker Championship, Barry Hearn also mentioned there will be a new event in Qatar, although this has yet to be officially announced. Other areas in the Middle East are also rumoured to be interested in staging a tournament.