The tournament began as a ranking tournament in 1992. It is now the third-longest-running ranking event on the
World Snooker Tour, after the
World Championship and the
UK Championship. The event trophy was renamed the
Ray Reardon Trophy; Reardon himself presented the first trophy bearing his name to the
2017 winner
Stuart Bingham. In the
2016–17 season, the event became part of the
Home Nations Series, alongside the
English Open,
Northern Ireland Open and
Scottish Open. From season
2021-22 to season
2023-24 the Welsh Open was included in the
European Series and as the last tournament in that series, these Welsh Open editions had the extra interest of being the tournament where the European Series championship and it's associated Betvictor winner's bonus was decided. That bonus is won by the player with the highest aggregate winnings across the series. When the European Series was then discontinued, the Betvictor bonus was transferred to the Home Nations Series from the
2024-25 season, so since then the Welsh Open as the last Home Nations tournament each season, has had the extra interest of being the tournament during which the Home Nations champion and the associated Betvictor £150,000 bonus is decided. The event was sponsored by
Regal until 2003, but UK restrictions on tobacco advertising meant that it was without a sponsor until 2009. The tournament was sponsored by
Totesport.com in 2010, by Wyldecrest Park Homes in 2011, by 888真人 in 2012, and by
BetVictor from to 2013 to 2016. In 2017 the tournament was sponsored by
Coral. In
1996,
Paul Hunter reached the semi-finals at the age of 17 years and 111 days, becoming the youngest player to reach this stage of a ranking tournament. In January 2014, World Snooker chairman
Barry Hearn announced that the 2014 tournament would be the last held in Newport, and that he would open negotiations to move the event to a larger venue, most likely in
Cardiff. The event was held at the
Motorpoint Arena in
Cardiff from
2015 to
2020, before moving back to Newport in
2021 and
2022. The event was first held at its current venue
Llandudno in
2023. The tournament is broadcast by
BBC Wales,
Eurosport,
CCTV,
SMG,
Now TV and
Showtime Arabia. In the early days it was televised by both
BBC Wales (in English),
S4C (in Welsh) and
Sky Sports. There have been twelve
maximum breaks in the history of the tournament. • The first was made by
Ronnie O'Sullivan in
1999, against
James Wattana. • The second was made at the qualifying stage of the
2000 event by
Barry Pinches, against
Joe Johnson. • The third was made by
Andrew Higginson in
2007, against
Ali Carter. • The fourth 147 was made in
2011 by
Stephen Hendry, against
Stephen Maguire. This was Hendry's 10th 147 break, and with this he equalled the record for most maximums with
Ronnie O'Sullivan. He also became the oldest player at the time to compile a maximum break at the age of 42 years and 35 days. • The fifth maximum was made by
O'Sullivan in
2014, in the last frame of the final against
Ding Junhui. This was O'Sullivan's 12th 147 break, and with it he set the record for most maximums. It was also the last maximum to be compiled before the event moved to Cardiff. •
Ding Junhui made the sixth at the quarter-finals of the
2016 tournament, against
Neil Robertson. • Two maximum breaks were made at the
2019 event, one by
Neil Robertson in the first round, against
Jordan Brown, and one by
Noppon Saengkham in the third round, against
Mark Selby. • The ninth maximum was made in
2020 by
Kyren Wilson on his first visit to the table in his first round match against
Jackson Page. •
Shaun Murphy made the tenth maximum break in
2023 in his third round match against
Daniel Wells. • The eleventh maximum break was compiled by
Gary Wilson in
2024, during the semi-final against
Higgins. • The most recent maximum break was made by
Xu Si in the second round of qualifying of the
2025 tournament against
Bulcsú Révész. In the first round of the
2026 Open,
Chang Bingyu played a 'perfect match' where he did not miss one pot and so recorded a record 100% rate while making 4 consecutive
century breaks in his 4-0
whitewash of
Shaun Murphy. ==Winners==