NEXT week’s UK Championship will be sponsored by williamhill.com, World Snooker has announced.

The company, which has a major online presence along with being one of Britain’s oldest and best-known high street bookmakers, has invested £625,000 in prize money for snooker’s second-biggest ranking event, which will be televised by the BBC and Eurosport.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn has secured sponsors for the vast majority of televised tournaments since taking charge of the sport two years ago. He has already established a strong relationship with williamhill.com through his leadership of the Professional Darts Corporation. Hearn said: “We’re delighted to welcome William Hill as the new title sponsor of the UK Championship. Having worked with their team at the Grand Slam of Darts I know they are a fantastic company, so it’s fitting that they’re sponsoring one of snooker’s biggest tournaments.

“The UK Championship is one of the highlights of the snooker calendar and receives outstanding exposure through coverage on BBC and across the world, providing exceptional brand exposure for the sponsor to hundreds of millions of fans globally.

“It promises to be a superb tournament with 32 of the best players in the world gunning for the title.”