World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn has said the sport’s 128 professional tour players will decide the future of one of its most controversial ranking events – the Snooker Shoot Out.

Mr Hearn’s decision to give the event, which sees players compete in a single ten-minute frame under 10 and 20 second shot clocks, full ranking status has caused much controversy in the snooker world with many arguing the event does not justify prestigious ranking points because of its untraditional snooker rules.

On Sunday, Anthony McGill became the first winner of the Snooker Shoot Out as a major ranking event.

Victory in the final over Xiao Goudong earned him his second major ranking title of his career however afterwards, when speaking to the media, he said he  felt the tournament should not be a full ranking event in the calendar.

But today (Thursday), Hearn told his Twitter followers that the event’s future will be decided by the players in an upcoming vote organised by World Snooker. It is not yet clear when the vote will take place.

Players must choose whether the event should stay as a full ranking event or should be scrapped altogether. It appears there is no middle ground keeping the event as a non-ranking event as has been the case in the last three years.

In a further tweet, Hearn told a Twitter user that there was “not enough commercial value to make it happen as an exhibition event.”

Rules of Snooker Shoot-Out

• Every frame lasts 10 minutes.
• There is a shot clock. For the first 5 minutes of the match, players have 15 seconds per shot, but for the last 5 minutes this is reduced to 10 seconds. Failure to strike the cue ball within the time allowed results in a 5-point penalty. Prior to 2013, the shot clock was set at 20 seconds per shot for the first 5 minutes and 15 seconds for the last 5 minutes.
• Players must hit a cushion (with any ball) or pot a ball with every shot. 
• All fouls result in ball in hand.
• Players ‘lag’ to decide who breaks off.
• In an event of a tie the blue ball shoot-out determines the winner. The blue ball is placed on its spot and the player can place the cue ball anywhere within the D before attempting to pot the blue (winner of lag decides who goes first).