Prize Increased for World Championship 147

World Snooker has announced that the reward for making a World Championship 147 is to be improved this season to £40,000.

The sport has utilised a rolling-pot system for maximum break prizes in recent seasons, starting with a base of £5,000 and adding an additional five grand for every tournament in which the perfect frame wasn’t achieved.

The jackpot had accumulated to £30,000 by the time the penultimate ranking event of the season came around earlier this month in the China Open but, of course, a brace of 147 breaks was constructed in the space of a couple of days by Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stuart Bingham.

Those runs reset the prize back to its original £5,000 for a World Championship 147 and there were immediate calls for something to be done, with World Snooker supremo Barry Hearn hinting that a change would be made.

And true to his word, Hearn has delivered, creating a marvellous incentive for players to make that extra effort to compile the first World Championship 147 since Stephen Hendry’s farewell retirement knock six years ago.

With a high break award of £10,000, there’s an opportunity for a player to pocket a cool £50,000 in total if he or she could make an unmatched World Championship 147.

Hearn said: “It was fantastic to see two maximum breaks from Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stuart Bingham at last week’s China Open, earning them each £21,000, but of course that dropped the bonus available in the rolling pot to £5,000.”

“The Betfred World Championship is our Blue Riband event so we feel it deserves an extra reward for a 147.

“A maximum break is such a magical moment – we haven’t seen one at the Crucible since 2012 so we wish all the players the best of luck trying to make one this year.”

The maximum prize for the qualifying rounds has also received a boost with the amount on offer doubling from £5,000 to £10,000 should the feat be accomplished in the next week at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.