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Snooker Betting in the US: How to Bet on Snooker

Snooker betting

What sport draws over 500 million viewers for its world championship each year? If you didn’t think of snooker, you’re not alone. Yet, that’s exactly how many tune in annually.

Ready to learn all about snooker betting? We’ll cover everything you need to know — from betting tips to available markets and where you can legally place your bets in the US. Let’s get started!

🔑 Key Takeaways

  • Discover if snooker betting online is legal in the US.
  • Find the best sportsbook for betting on snooker.
  • Learn about the top snooker tournaments worldwide.
  • Find out what bet types you can place.

Online Snooker Betting in the US 

While snooker doesn’t have the widespread popularity that you can expect with other sports such as football and hockey in the US, it is gradually increasing, with the help of promotion by the United States Snooker Association (USSA).

As a spectator sport, it has a more subdued sense of excitement, but it can be an interesting sport to watch, nonetheless, with some of the best players in the world pulling off incredible pots and shots.  

With the repealing of the PASPA in 2018, states were given the license to legalize online sports betting. With many states passing such legislation, snooker is a betting option at most US sportsbooks, and plenty of US sports fans are willing to place a wager on it, especially on a major tournament such as the World Championship. 

You can easily place a snooker bet online, and states where online sports betting is legal include:

  • Arizona 
  • Arkansas
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida 
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Montana
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Ohio
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • Tennessee 
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • Washington, D.C.
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Snooker Game Rules: How to Play Snooker 

Snooker is played on a 12×6 foot table, with six pockets located in the four corners and one in the center of each long side.

How about the rules? The game involves potting 15 red and six colored balls in a specific sequence while trying to score the most points.

  • You must pot a red ball first, then a colored ball, and so on.
  • Once all the red balls have been potted, you work your way up the color balls with their set number of points:
    • Red = 1
    • Yellow = 2 
    • Green = 3 
    • Brown = 4 
    • Blue = 5 
    • Pink = 6 
    • Black = 7 
  • If a player pots the wrong ball, or otherwise ‘fouls’, their opponent receives a minimum of four points, depending on which ball was played.

Foul shots include push shots (when the cue pushes rather than taps the ball) and jump shots (when the cue ball jumps over another). 

A single game of snooker is called a frame, and in the first round of a snooker tournament, the matches are played over 11 frames (that is, the first player to win six frames wins the match). In the later rounds, matches are played over 15 frames.

Is Snooker Easy to Bet On? 

There are many opportunities when betting on snooker. As with most sports, you can bet on an outright tournament or match winner, or various other betting options:

  • Correct score: Place a bet on what the final score will be.
  • Frame winner: Wager on who will win a specific frame.
  • Total frames: Bet on how many frames there will be over an entire match.
  • Number of centuries: Predict the number of breaks of 100 points or more.
  • Highest break: Bet on which player will have the highest score on a single break.

Some of these can be complex to predict due to the nature of the game and player. I like to bet on the highest break, especially in the World Championship, where many players may achieve high breaks. While there are many variables, I’ve found that certain players such as Mark Selby or Ronnie O’Sullivan have a track record that can be insightful in my betting strategy.

We’ll run through more betting strategies later that can be useful!

How Does Snooker Betting Work? 

You might want to keep your first bet simple, but then again, maybe not. My first snooker bet was on Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the 2014 WSC. Picking a highly accomplished, world-renowned player (and the defending World Champion) felt pretty safe – until he was beaten by Mark Selby, who took his first-ever world title that year. 

Understanding Snooker Odds 

Before you get started, you must understand the different kinds of snooker betting odds. Here are the types of odds you might see offered:

  • Fractional odds: They indicate the amount won relative to the stake made, indicating the profit the bettor will make.
  • Decimal odds: They are displayed as a number, which is the amount the bettor could take home for every $1 wagered, indicating the total payout.
  • American odds ‘moneyline’: They are displayed as a number (plus or minus) and represent the stake needed to win $100.

Choosing a Snooker Betting Site 

Choosing a reputable snooker betting site is similar to choosing any kind of gambling platform. You’ll want to be certain that the site is operating in a state where gambling is legal and regulated, and carries the relevant state license. Make sure that online reviews are positive and that the site is not blacklisted or reported as a scam anywhere online. 

Personally, I like bet365 Sportsbook for snooker betting. It has a user-friendly app, decent odds, and a good reputation. However, there are plenty of other options. If you’re happy with your regular online sportsbook, and it offers snooker betting, then you’ll likely want to stick with it.

Placing a Bet 

Placing a wager on most snooker betting apps is simple:

  1. Log on or register a new account if you’re a new player.
  2. Select snooker from the menu.
  3. Select the event you want to bet on and the bet you wish to place. 
  4. Enter the amount you intend to wager.
  5. Check your bet details and confirm the bet.

Different Types of Snooker Bets

As we’ve already mentioned, there is a range of different bet types to choose from in snooker, some of which are very straightforward, while others are a little more complicated.

Let’s take a look at the different bets you might want to consider and why:

  • Outright winner
  • Snooker each-way betting 
  • Handicap betting
  • Match bets
  • Over/under

Outright Winner 

A bet on an outright winner in snooker is exactly what it sounds like. You’re betting on who will be the champion at the end of the tournament.

Example: Betting on Luca Brecel in the 2023 WSC would have been a smart move. He won the final 18-15 against Mark Selby, defying odds of 50/1, while Selby, a four-time champion, had odds of around 6/1.

Snooker Each-Way Betting

What is each-way betting on snooker? As with other sports, it’s essentially two bets in one, allowing you to bet on a player to either win or place. The definition of place will vary, so always check with your sportsbook to see what it considers a place. It will often be the top three, but it could be the top two or the top five.

Example: If you place a $5 each-way bet on Mark Selby to win the WSC at 5/1, it breaks down as:

  • $5 on Selby to win outright at 5/1.
  • $5 on Selby to place first or second at half the odds (2.5/1).

If Selby wins, both bets pay out. If he finishes second, only the place bet pays out.

Handicap Betting 

Handicap betting is often used to even up the odds in various sports, giving the underdogs more of a chance and limiting the favorite’s advantage. In snooker, handicapping players involves ‘giving’ them extra frames, rather than shots. This works by adding their handicap number to however many frames they win. 

Example: If you place a +3.5 frame handicap bet and your player loses 8-11, the handicap adds to their score, making it 11.5 frames. You win the bet.

Match Bets 

Match betting in snooker applies to the bets you can place that just apply to a particular match within a tournament. The most popular and obvious match bet is to simply bet on the winner of a match.

Example: Bet on Ronnie O’Sullivan at 10/1 odds. If he wins, your bet pays out.

Another popular, but hard-to-predict, match bet is to place a bet on the total number of frames that there will be in a match. Naturally, this varies due to the nature of the game.

Example: In an 11-frame match, the first to six frames wins. In a 15-frame match, it’s the first to eight. Keep this in mind when betting.

Over/Under 

An over/under bet in snooker is also a bet on the number of frames, but with this one, you’re not trying to predict the exact number, just whether it will be over or under a certain number of frames.

Example: If you bet on under 8.5 frames in an 11-frame match, your bet wins if the match ends by the eighth frame. If it reaches a ninth frame, you lose.

Over/under bets are a popular choice, as they don’t require your prediction to be as precise as a match bet on the exact number of frames.

Snooker Live Betting 

Are you wondering how to bet on snooker final matches even after the tournaments have started? You can. In fact, you can even bet on the final match while it’s in play. Many online sportsbooks offer live snooker betting, often referred to as in-play betting, so you can place bets during a match.

Many of us keen sports bettors love the excitement of snooker in-play betting. Pre-match betting involves trying to predict an outcome based on the players’ previous form, whereas live betting snooker tournaments let you analyze everything as the action unfolds.

I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t place a live bet on Brecel during that 2023 WSC. As each match progressed, it became obvious that he was going to end up much higher in the rankings than anyone had predicted at the start of the tournament. I’d still have got decent odds on him during match-play toward the end of the event.

Major Snooker Events to Bet On 

There are a few major snooker events on the sporting calendar, with betting available both in the run-up to the tournament and while it’s in progress. Let’s see the major snooker events to place your sports bet:

  • The Snooker World Championship
  • The Snooker Masters

Snooker World Championship 

The Snooker World Championship takes place annually at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and has been held since 1927. It is the longest-running tournament in professional snooker and certainly, one of the most prestigious, with the top prize standing at £500,000. Attracting over 500 million viewers worldwide, it’s always a big event for watchers and bettors all around the globe.

Sportsbooks offer plenty of opportunities for Snooker World Championship betting. This is a great one for live betting, as things can change a lot during each match, and over the course of the tournament as a whole. Winning the SWC is a big goal to aim for, but the true greats often do it more than once. Both Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan have won seven times each. 

Fun fact: What’s more surprising is that in the tournament’s history, there have only ever been 14 maximum breaks.

Snooker Masters 

The Masters is an invite-only professional snooker tournament that has been held every year since 1975, making it the second-longest-running professional snooker tournament after the SWC. As with other tournaments, the most popular bet here is probably a match bet, but do consider all the other options.

When it comes to Masters snooker betting, wagering on a high number of centuries or maximum breaks is a real but tempting risk. The odds tend to be high, as they don’t happen that often. In fact, there have only ever been five maximum breaks in the event’s history. Two of these, however, were in the 2024 tournament, so you’d certainly have cleaned up if you’d managed to predict that. 

It’s worth knowing that the legendary Ronnie O’Sullivan has an even better track record in the Masters than in the SWC, with a total of eight wins.

Snooker Betting Strategies I Live By 

Every sports betting enthusiast has their ideas about betting strategies, but here are the ones I live by when betting on snooker:

  • I follow the sport throughout the season to keep up to date with player form.
  • I mix it up, placing some safer bets such as each-way bets on well-established players and some match bets on up-and-coming players who are showing promise.
  • I keep an eye on newer and younger players, who can sometimes really surprise you in a game such as snooker.
  • I listen to the pundits when they mention their top snooker picks for the season, but always check if what they’re recommending lines up with my own observations.
  • I manage my bankroll carefully and leave myself a good budget for the later matches in a tournament when things get really exciting
  • I shop around to find a good betting site or app, and consider any sportsbook that’s new to me that’s offering a specific snooker betting bonus or a general promotion that will work for the bets I want to place.

So, Are You Ready for Some Snooker Betting Tonight? 

At this point, you know a lot about snooker: the game, the bet types, the events, and the odds. You’re more than ready to log into your online sportsbook and get started with betting snooker options right now.

However, are you 100% sure that you understand how to calculate odds and make informed betting decisions? If not, you might want to check out our free sports betting tools and calculators.

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