Prize money boosts for next season's UK and World Snooker Championship

The winner of the 2027 World Snooker Championship - 50 years on from its first outing at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield - will collect £625,000.

That is a 25% increase on this year's winner's purse of £500,000 which has remained the same since Judd Trump's triumph in 2019.

The total prize fund will be £3 million - a boost of over £600,000 - with the World Snooker Tour stating that there will be similar increases for each round.

The UK Championship is the opening leg of the seasonal 'Triple Crown Series', and has been played every year since 1975.

Currently held at the Barbican Centre in York, the winner of the next edition will pocket £312,500; again, a 25% rise from the £250,000 that Mark Selby collected back in December.

With the overall purse to be £1.5 million (up from £1.2 million), cueists in other finishing positions will also be rewarded with more.

These announcements coincided with Barry Hearn's annual trip to the Crucible Theatre, on Monday afternoon.

In a press conference, the sports promotions supremo said that the Crucible-winning pot is on its way to £1 million, and possibly beyond now that the venue's future is secured, with significant building upgrades coming later this decade.

Those improvements are set to include a 50% seat capacity increase in the main arena, and advancements to facilities elsewhere in the famous venue.

There could be further good news for the world's top green baize exponents with the imminent confirmation that the China Open will return next season in a new home city of Taiyuan.

The China Open has not been played since 2019, with the Covid-19 pandemic initially causing it to be cancelled.

It is understood that the first prize for this event will be the biggest on offer for any tournament held in the Far East next season. This world ranking event has been pencilled in for August, as part of an 'Asian swing' along with the Shanghai Masters and Wuhan Open.

However, there are big doubts over the next edition of the Saudi Arabia Masters - currently top flight snooker's second richest competition.

With the ongoing conflict in the Middle East region - that has led to several big sporting events being cancelled - it is uncertain when, or even if, it will be held again.

On next season's provisional calendar, the tournament was not listed, although a footnote explained that it could be held in October - later in the year than its opening two stagings.

It has been reported that there is a 10-year contract for the event, but with rumours of Saudi backers cooling on their mega money sporting interests - such as the breakaway LIV Golf Series - there is uncertainty on whether it will return at all.