World Snooker Championship 2024 odds
The Snooker World Championship 2024 runs from 20th April until 6th May 2024. With a top prize of £500,000 up for grabs, the snooker greats will be hoping to clinch the prize money as well as the glory that comes with gaining the title of World Snooker Championship. We take a look at the top contenders, alongside the betting odds for snooker championship available at the best snooker betting sites.
Who will win the Snooker World Championship 2024?
Snooker World Championship winner odds
From Ronnie O’Sullivan to Mark Allen to Judd Trump and last year’s winner Luca Brecel and runner-up Mark Selby, there are multiple contenders to win the 2024 Snooker World Championship. We take a look at the odds on each of them, alongside the other top-ten hopefuls to finish victorious at the Crucible on 6th May.
Odds to win World Championship
| Player |
Boylesports |
Unibet |
Bet365 |
Star Sports |
|
Kyren Wilson |
5/4 |
6/5 |
6/5 |
5/4 |
|
Stuart Bingham |
2/1 |
9/4 |
9/4 |
2/1 |
|
David Gilbert |
9/2 |
5/1 |
5/1 |
5/1 |
|
Jak Jones |
6/1 |
6/1 |
6/1 |
11/2 |
World Snooker Championship 2024 Favourites
With the World Snooker Championship 2024 about to begin, let’s take a look at the format of the competition, the highest achievements the tournament has seen to date and study the top five players with the best odds of winning this year.
World Snooker Championship Format
- In order to compete in the main stage part of the World Snooker Championship, 128 players first need to fight it out across four qualifying rounds to secure one of just 16 places available.
- These 16 players will then be drawn randomly to play against the top 16 players in the snooker world rankings, who receive an automatic place in the competition.
- These qualifying rounds are played between 8th and 17th April 2024 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
The main stage of the championship takes place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, between 20th April and 6th May 2024. The stage of the competition is spread across five rounds, with the winners of each match progressing to the next stage. In the first round, players compete to win the best of 19 frames, played over two sessions. Second round matches and quarter finals are the best of 25 frames, played over three sessions. The semi-finals are the best of 33 frames, played over four sessions, with the finals played as the best of 25 frames, also across four sessions.
Prize fund
The competition has a prize fund of a whopping £2,395,000, with £500,000 reserved for the winner. The runner up will receive £200,000, with semi-finalists being awarded £100,000. There is also a prize of £15,000 for the highest break in the whole competition. There is an additional £40,000 on offer for a maximum break made at the Crucible, and a further £147,000 bonus to any player who makes two maximum breaks during the season's Triple Crown events. So far, Xu Si, Ding Junhui and Mark Allen have already made maximum breaks that count towards this bonus.
World Snooker Championship Achievements
The first World Snooker Championship was held in 1927, although it was known as the Professional Snooker Championship back then. Since then, a number of tournament records have been made and broken. We take a look at some of them.
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Cliff Thorburn made the first maximum break of the World Championship in 1983.
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Steve Davis holds the record for the biggest winning margin in a World Championship final, which he set in 1989 with an 18-3 win over John Parrott.
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James Wattana of Thailand became the first Asian player to reach the semi-finals in 1993.
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In 1994, Fergal O’Brien became the first and only player to ever make a century in his first frame at the Crucible.
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In the 2022 World Championships, Mark Williams made a record 16 century breaks.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan made the fastest maximum break in a record five minutes and eight seconds, in 1997.
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The highest number of century breaks in a single World Championship final is 11, set by Judd Trump and John Higgins in 2019.
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Shaun Murphy became the lowest ranked player ever to win the World Championship in 2005.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan is the oldest player to have won the World Championship (he won in 2022, age 46 and 148 days).
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The most century breaks ever made in a single World Championship tournament at the Crucible is 109.
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The longest ever frame of snooker played at the Crucible is 85 minutes.
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Judd Trump holds the record for the most centuries made by a player in a Crucible match, achieving seven in 2019.
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Stephen Henry and Ronnie O’Sullivan jointly hold the record for most World Championship wins, with seven apiece.
Top 5 Favorite to win Snooker World Championship 2024
Ronnie O’Sullivan
While Ronnie O’Sullivan is the favourite to win the World Championship this year across all bookmakers, this shouldn’t be considered a sure bet. As he showed last year in the quarter finals against Luca Brecel, O’Sullivan can suffer from a sudden dip in form - something he also did recently against Mark Williams at the Tour Championship final in Manchester on 7th April, where he lost 10-5 in a shock turnaround, losing seven frames in a row to throw away is 5-3 lead.
Of course, Ronnie is current world number one and one of the most talented and accomplished snooker players in history, so the Rocket shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. He has made 15 maximum breaks in his career, and 1260 century breaks. He’s won 41 ranking tournaments and has been crowned world champion no less than seven times, last winning in 2022.
Boylesports are currently offering odds of 5/2 on Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the 2024 World Snooker Championship.
Judd Trump
Judd Trump is second in the World Snooker Rankings and the bookie’s second favourite to win the 2024 World Snooker Championship. Trump is currently on great form, as he successfully defended his World Open crown in March 2024, beating Ding Junhui in a solid 10-4 victory.
The Ace in the Pack now holds 28 ranking tournament wins, eight maximum breaks and 977 century breaks. He has also successfully competed at the World Snooker Championship previously, taking the title in 2019. No doubt he is hoping to regain that title and keep the momentum going off the back of his World Open win.
Mark Selby
Mark Selby, the ‘Jester from Leicester’, is third-favourite to win. Currently world number five, Selby has strongly suggested that he might retire from snooker if his performance at the World Championship is not a vast improvement on the way he played at the Tour Championship earlier this month, where he was beaten 10-8 by Gary Wilson. Given Selby’s recent comments, the World Championship is looking to be make-or-break for him, so he’s likely to be giving his all at the Crucible.
With 22 ranking tournament wins, five maximum breaks and 820 century breaks to his name, Mark Selby is certainly not a player to dismiss…unless of course his ‘ITV curse’ continues.
Mark Allen
Mark Allen is fourth favourite to win at the Crucible on 6th May, having been in good form recently, reaching the semi final of the 2024 Tour Championship in early April, and also the semi final of the 2023 World Snooker Championship, where he lost 15-17 to Mark Selby.
Currently sitting at number three in World Snooker Rankings, ‘the Pistol’ has 11 ranking tournament wins, three maximum breaks and 616 century breaks to his name. The most recent of his century breaks was produced just recently, at the 2024 Masters. No doubt Allen is hopeful to build on his current good form at the Crucible for this tournament.
Mark Williams
Mark Williams is fifth favourite to win the 2024 World Snooker Championship, having recently beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-5 in the final of the Tour Championship in Manchester. He also won the British Open in October 2023, so is enjoying a successful season thus far.
The ‘Welsh Potting Machine’ holds 26 ranking tournament wins, and has scored three maximum breaks and 628 century breaks thus far in his career. He will likely be looking to increase that tally to 27 by the end of this competition.
England
Ireland
Italy
France
Israel
Belgium
Makedonia
Faroe Islands
Latvia
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