This piece will disclose the top fifteen wealthiest snooker players in history. You might be a die-hard admirer of this sport or any other such as horse racing, football, or tennis. Or you could love to wager on all of these sports including the open championship. However, before you proceed, you should try to expand your understanding of the subject. And, because snooker as a sport is not widely practiced in many locations, let me begin with this sport. To begin, snooker is a cue-based game.
The sport was invented by British Army officers serving in India. It was initially played in the latter part of the nineteenth century, more specifically in the course of the 1870s. It is, however, conducted on a flat rectangular table upholstered in green linen or baize. There are also pouches at each of the four edges and in the centre of each long side.
A snooker cue plus 21 colored balls are required. To pot the rest of the balls in the appropriate order, the contestants have to hit other colored balls with the white ball; which is the cue ball. That is the manner in which they earn points for every single pot. Ultimately, the contestant with the most scores wins the competition. In the year 1884, Army official, Sir Neville Chamberlain gave the sport a unique identity.
In reality, he created a system of rules that incorporated the pyramid and the black pool. The sport is being played by individuals from all over the world. Some of them perform it as a form of recreation, some partake just to profit, while others play the game professionally. So, here’s a list of the top 15 richest snooker players in the world in the year 2023.
List of the Top 20 World Richest Snooker Players
Below is a list of the leading twenty richest snooker players. You will also find their net worth, ranking, and their country of origin. As a billiars player, many of their earnings come from participation in snooker championship such as the world championships. Raking in earning as a professional snooker player. Also, if you are a lover of eSports, check out our top 10 female eSports gamers.
| Ranking | Net Worth | Name | Country of Origin |
| 1 | $33.7m | Steve Davis | England |
| 2 | $32.4m | Stephen Hendry | Scotland |
| 3 | $23.3m | Dennis Taylor | Northern Ireland |
| 4 | $19.4m | Jimmy White | England |
| 5 | $15.5m | Cliff Thorburn | Canada |
| 6 | $14.2m | Ronnie O’Sullivan | England |
| 7 | $11.6m | John Parrott | England |
| 8 | $11.2m | John Higgins | Scotland |
| 9 | $10.3m | WIllie Thorne | England |
| 10 | $9m | Mark Williams | Wales |
| 11 | $7.7m | Peter Ebdon | England |
| 12 | $7.5m | Ken Doherty | Ireland |
| 13 | $6.4m | Terry Griffiths | Wales |
| 14 | $5.2m | Stephen Lee | England |
| 15 | $5.1m | Alan McManus | Scotland |
| 16 | $3.8m | Neal Foulds | England |
| 17 | $3.4m | Paul Hunter | England |
| 18 | $3m | Matthew Stevens | Wales |
| 19 | $2.7m | James Wattana | Thailand |
| 20 | $2.5m | Nigel Bond | England |
Top 5 Richest Billards Players of All Time
Without any more delay, let us get down to work. Some of the worthy mentions have won at least a championship, while some have numerous. As a professional snooker player, you earn by participating in snooker championships in addition to endorsement deals. The richest snooker players to make our list have won several amount in prize money from participating in snooker championship as a professional snooker player. They are:
1) Steve Davis:
63-year-old Steve Davis, OBE, ranks as the richest snooker player in the world and one of the most successful snooker player ever. He was given birth on the 22nd of August 1957 in London, England. Steve has won practically every title and milestone attainable. As a consequence, he is undoubtedly the most successful player in ever.
For a total of seven seasons in a row, Davis was ranked first in the entire world. Steve Davis additionally boasts six World Championships, six UK Championships, and three Masters to his name. He was at the top of the chart as the best professional snooker player for a total of seven years in a row. Steve Davis made his record-setting 30th Crucible appearance in 2010 at the age of 52. He became the only snooker player to have been selected BBC Sports Person of the Year.
He is currently retired and doubles as a disc jockey, commentator, author, and musician. He is at present employed by the BBC as an on-air analyst and pundit for professional snooper program. His reported wealth is $33.7 million. The sum includes the prize money he won while playing and those he made from various other ventures.
2) Stephen Hendry:
Stephen Hendry, also known as the Golden Boy, is a professional snooker player from Scotland. He was given birth to on the 13th of January, 1969, in Queensferry, Scotland. He became a professional snooker player at the young age of 16. Hendry won the World Championship at the tender age of 21 in the year 1990.
This imposed on him the distinction of being the youngest world championship winner, a title he still holds. He is often regarded as the most successful player in modern snooker tournament history. Stephen won seven world titles, including five in consecutively from 1990 to 1999. For eight lengthy seasons, he was the best pro snooker player in the rankings. The Scottish player is one of the wealthiest billiards players, with an estimated net worth of $32.4 million. He has increased the amount in his account by winning prizes during his career and working as an analyst for ITV and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
3) Dennis Taylor:
The 74-year-old former Northern Irish snooker player is ranked third on our chart of the richest snooker players. He was born on Coal Island on the 19th of January, 1949. Dennis is most remembered for claiming the 1985 World Snooker Championship after coming back from an 0-8 deficit to upset Steve Davis 18-17 in the finals. He has won two ranking competitions.
You might be astonished to learn that the year before Dennis Taylor became world champion, he was prepared to retire from snooker due to the passing of his mother. Despite his retirement from the sport a couple of years ago, Dennis Taylor continues to be the most distinguished Irish player till today. His speculated net worth is $23.2 million. He additionally serves as a snooker pundit for the BBC.
4) Jimmy White:
Jimmy White closely follows Dennis Taylor in fourth position on our list of wealthiest snooker players. James Warren White, MBE, frequently referred to as the People’s Champion, is an elite snooker player from England. The 61-years-old Jimmy began showing interest in snooker before his adolescence years and would frequently spend time at the community hall rather than going to school.
He triumphed in the World Cup and the British Open twice. Although making the world championship finals six times, he has never won it. In 1994, he got the closest to becoming a champion. Playing against Stephen Hendry, he lost in a final-frame decider.
He was actually the initial lefty snooker player to win an international championship.. Among his other accomplishments are the Nations Cup, the Masters, and the UK championships. His estimated net worth from professional earnings and other endeavours is $19.4 million.
5) Cliff Thorburn:
Cliff is a former pro player from Canada. He was given birth to on the 16th of January, 1948. Cliff is most known for capturing the 1980 World Championship. He became fascinated in the game as a youth and travelled to the United Kingdom in his early twenties to seek a career as a professional in snooker. Cliff earned the moniker ‘Grinder’ due to his sluggish, dogged approach to play. In 1980, he became the first player not of British origin to win the World Snooker Championship, beating Alex Higgins. His induction into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame occurred in 2001. His projected net worth is $15.5 million.
Continuation: Top 10 Richest Snooker Players (6th to 15th)
We’ve given you the list of the top 5 wealthiest snooker players in the world. As we go further to complete our top 15 richest snooker players, we present to you the remaining top 10 richest snooker players in the world.
6) Ronnie O’Sullivan:
Ronnie, OBE, is considered to be the greatest and most successful snooker player of all time. He was born on the 5th of December, 1975. Ronnie first expressed a keenness in snooker sport when he was quite young. In the year 1992, he started off his pro career. He is the youngest Masters champion in history after winning the trophy at the age of 19 years. Ronnie has taken home the most world titles since 2000.
Ronnie claimed his first World Championship in 2001 after which he won it again in 2004 and 2008. After winning the 2022 World Snooker Championship, Ronnie maintains the record for the most rankings with 39. This is higher than Stephen Hendry’s, who has a feat of 36. His estimated net worth is pegged at $14.2 million.
7) John Parrott:
John Parrott, MBE, was born on the 11th of May, 1964, and he was an extremely popular player in the course of the 1980s and 1990s. He remains the only English professional snooker player to have won two titles in the exact same year, the UK Championship and the World Championship titles.
For fourteen straight seasons, he maintained a top 16 position on the global rankings, with 11 of those seasons in the top 6 place. He also made the final of the Masters on three different occasions in four years, losing each time to Stephen Hendry. Parrott has won nine global ranking competitions in all. His estimated worth stands around$11.6 million which consists of money made from professional snooker sport and working in the media.
8) John Higgins:
John Higgins, MBE, is a Scottish professional snooker player. He was given birth to on the 18th of May, 1975. Since becoming an elite player in the year 1992, he has won 31 ranking competitions, notably, two Masters, four World Championships, and three UK Championships. He rose to prominence in the 1994-95 seasons, even though he was barely 19 years old. At this tender age, he claimed his initial ranking competition, the Grand Prix, by overcoming Dave Harold 9-6 in the championship game.
Higgins contested three straight World Championship finals between 2017 and 2019. In 2017, Mark Selby defeated him, Mark Williams defeated him in 2018, and he fell to Judd Trump in 2019. His total wealth is pegged at $11.2 million.
9) Willie Thorne:
Willie Thorne, died on June 17, 2020 at 66 years of age. Although Willie is no longer alive, yet his identity remains on our roster of the world’s wealthiest snooker players. He was an English professional player that won one ranking championship, the 1985 classic. He also advanced to the finals of the 1985 UK Championships, but he was defeated 16-14 by Steve Davis after taking a lead of 13-8.
After quitting snooker sport, he served as a snooker pundit for the BBC. Willie was diagnosed with leukaemia in March 2020 and was not responding to medication at the time. He passed on in Spain after his life support was withdrawn. Prior to his demise, his net worth was believed to be $10.3 million.
10) Mark Williams:
Mark Williams, MBE, was given birth to on the 21st of March, 1975. The Welsh professional snooker player has three world titles to his name. Namely; the 2000, 2003, and 2018 World Championships. Mark Williams is well-known for his single-ball lengthy potting capacity, which has earned him the moniker “the Welsh potting machine.”
Following Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis, he went on to become the third player in history to win all three Triple Crown events during the same season. Also, he is the first lefty World Championship winner. Mark is the winner of 23 ranking tournaments in total. They include two UK titles. His predicted net worth is $9 million.
11) Peter Ebdon:
On our list at eleventh place is Peter Ebdon, someone who you may not have expected to be one among the richest snooker players worldwide.
“The Force” is now retired after winning the both the World Championship and the UK Championship in 2002 and 2006 respectively. During the course of his professional life, he captured seven more ranking tournaments.
Ebdon earned an aggregate of £3,583,752 while active. His net worth is presently believed to be around $7.7 million.
A pleasant surprise for a snooker player who suffered from color blindness his entire career.
12) Ken Doherty:
:focal(1004x667:1006x665)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/07/27/2856421-58874428-2560-1440.jpg)
Ken Doherty, also known as The Darlin of Dublin or Sneaky Ken, is a fifty-one years old pro player who also serves as a pundit and radio host. He has already accumulated a lot, and he is currently ranked among the top 15 richest snooker players with an estimated value of $7.5m. Ken Doherty was born in Ireland and began his professional career in 1990. He won the 1997 world championship, defeating Stephen Hendry 18-12 in the final. In 2006–07, he was ranked second. However, Ken Doherty is also known as The Darlin of Dublin and Sneaky Ken.
13) Terry Griffiths:
Terry Griffiths, OBE, also known as Terrence Martin Griffiths, is a 73-year-old retired elite snooker player who currently works as a coach and an on-air-personality. Terry won the World Championship for the first time in 1979. He began his professional life in 1978 and retired in 1997. The 73-year-old former world champion is Welsh by origin and one of the highest-earning snooker players of all time with an estimated wealth of $6.4m.
14) Stephen Lee:
Stephen Lee currently sits fourteenth on our chart of the richest snooker players. He is 46 years old and an English professional snooker player. He began his career as a professional in 1992 and ended it in 2014. The Englishman failed to attain the top spot but finished fifth in 2000/01 and 2003/04. Many guys his age are still playing professionally, but Lee quit the game too soon.
15) Alan McManus:
Alan McManus is a former world-class billards player who retired in 2021. The Scottish professional snooker player is currently one of the wealthiest snooker players ever. In 1992, 1993, and 2016, the 52-year-old former player reached the World Championship semi-finals. At the same time, he has won numerous trophies. He was ranked 67 when he retired as a snooker player.
Conclusion
During a period of their professional lives, the world’s richest snooker players have acquired a large sum of fortune. Their net worth position serves as motivation for aspiring players who desire to improve their bank accounts with their prize money. Being a snooker player is obviously rewarding.
Just like when you bet on numerous other sports at Bet999, you can wager on snookers also. Betting is a means of making extra income when you do it responsibly.
