Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish former professional snooker player and former World Snooker Champion. His career ended in 2026 after he was convicted of child sex offences.
Dott turned professional in 1994 and competed on the World Snooker Tour for over 30 years. He won the 2006 World Snooker Championship, defeating Peter Ebdon in the final, and was runner-up at two other World Championships, losing the 2004 final to Ronnie O'Sullivan and the 2010 final to Neil Robertson. He contested ten ranking finals during his career, winning two ranking titles, and attained his career-highest position of second in the 2007–08 rankings.
In April 2025, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) suspended Dott from competition after he was charged with sexually abusing two children, a girl between 1993 and 1996 and a boy between 2006 and 2010. In August 2026, after a five-day trial at Scotland's High Court, he was convicted of lewd and libidinous behaviour towards both victims. The WPBSA revoked his membership, removing him permanently from the sport, and he was also removed from the World Snooker Hall of Fame. In September 2026, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and placed on the sex offender register indefinitely.
Early life and amateur years Graeme Dott was born on 12 May 1977 in Glasgow, Scotland, the youngest of four sons of John Dott and Susan Cartledge. Raised in the Easterhouse area of eastern Glasgow, he was educated at Commonhead Primary School and Lochend Secondary School. His father, grandfather, and uncle all worked for Yarrows Shipbuilders, and he described his background as "a traditional working-class Glasgow family."
Dott began playing snooker at age eight when he received a miniature snooker table for Christmas. A maternal uncle began taking him to snooker clubs so that he could practice on full-sized tables. When he was 13, his family moved to the Dennistoun area of Glasgow, and he made his first century break shortly afterwards at Dee Bee's Snooker Club. At Reardon's Snooker Centre on Stockwell Street, he met Alex Lambie, whose son Alex Jr. played alongside him in junior tournaments. Lambie, who owned a snooker club and hotel in Larkhall, mentored Dott as an amateur and went on to manage his professional career. Dott later described him as a "second father".
In 1992, Dott won the British Under-19 Championship at the age of 15. The following year, he won the Scottish Amateur Championship. His parents split up when he was 16. He lived with his mother, while his father moved to a council house nearby.
Career
Early career: From turning professional to World Champion (1994–2007) Dott turned professional in 1994, at age 17. He made his Crucible debut at the 1997 World Snooker Championship, losing 9–10 in the first round to James Wattana. He reached his first ranking final at the 1999 Scottish Open, losing 1–9 to Stephen Hendry, and made his first maximum break in professional competition at the 1999 British Open. He reached his second ranking final at the 2001 British Open, losing 6–9 to John Higgins, and first entered the top 16 in the 2001–02 rankings. His appearance at the 2002 China Open attracted media attention when a series of delayed and missed flights extended his journey to Shanghai to 43 hours, after which he overslept and had to run part of the way to the tournament venue. He lost 3–5 to Darren Morgan after being docked two frames for his late arrival, commenting afterwards that he had left his hotel in such a hurry that he was not wearing underpants until a friend brought him a pair at the mid-session interval. The Guardian newspaper satirically named him its "Alternative Sports Personality of the Year 2002" over this episode. At the 2002 World Championship, he reached the second round of the tournament for the first time but lost heavily to Higgins, who took the first ten frames and went on to win 13–2. He reached the second round again at the 2003 World Championship and built a 7–2 lead over Ken Doherty, but Doherty recovered to win 13–12.
Dott experienced a string of disappointing results the following season. After a 1–5 defeat to Dominic Dale at the 2004 Welsh Open, he deliberately broke his cue, a childhood gift from his parents, at a motorway service station on his way back to Scotland. Playing with a new cue, he began the 2004 World Championship as a 200–1 outsider, later commenting that he had packed only two shirts for the event, anticipating an early exit. After coming from behind to defeat Mark King 10–9 in the first round, he beat Higgins in the second round, David Gray in the quarter-finals, and Matthew Stevens in the semi-finals. In the final, he faced Ronnie O'Sullivan. Dott won the first five frames, which O'Sullivan attributed to "mind games" by Derek Hill, Dott's coach, who had formerly coached O'Sullivan. Hill visited O'Sullivan in his dressing room 15 minutes before the final began, which O'Sullivan said "got into my head". However, O'Sullivan dominated the remainder of the match, winning 18 of the last 21 frames for an 18–8 victory. The following year, Dott lost a fourth successive ranking final after Hendry beat him 9–7 at the 2005 Malta Cup. He exited the 2005 World Championship in the first round, losing 9–10 to Ian McCulloch.
At the 2006 World Championship, Dott led Neil Robertson 10–6 and 12–8 in the quarter-finals and held off a comeback to win 13–12. He faced O'Sullivan in the semi-finals. The scores were tied at 8–8 after the second session, but Dott won all eight frames in the third session to lead 16–8 and went on to win 17–11. Facing Peter Ebdon in the final, he led 11–5 and 15–7. Ebdon won six consecutive frames to reduce Dott's lead to two at 15–13, but Dott secured an 18–14 victory, claiming his first ranking title and only world title. The final was noted for its lengthy duration, slow pace of play, and low scoring, with Dott producing a highest break in the match of just 68. The 27th frame was, at that time, the longest ever played at the Crucible, at 74 minutes. The first day's play ended at 12:45 a.m., and the second day's play finished at 12:53 a.m.
The following season, Dott reached the semi-finals of the 2006 UK Championship, his career-best performance at the tournament, but lost 7–9 to Hendry despite having led 7–5. At the 2007 China Open, he defeated O'Sullivan 6–2 in the semi-finals and Jamie Cope 9–5 in the final to win his second ranking title, which he dedicated to the memory of his late father-in-law and manager Alex Lambie, who had recently died of cancer. At the 2007 World Championship, he again lost to McCulloch in the first round, becoming the 14th first-time champion to experience the so-called "Crucible curse," referring to the fact that no first-time winner at the Crucible has ever successfully defended the title. He reached his career highest ranking of second in the 2007–08 rankings.
Mid-career: Struggles with form and third world final (2007–20) Dott reached the semi-finals of the 2007 Shanghai Masters but did not win any further matches for the remainder of the 2007–08 season. He later explained that depression, which he attributed to Lambie's death, had affected his form. His first-round loss to Ebdon at the 2008 Malta Cup was his 11th consecutive professional defeat, after which he described his play as "hopeless". After losing in the first round of the 2008 Welsh Open, he announced that he was considering missing the 2008 World Championship. He did participate in the tournament but lost 7–10 to Joe Perry in the first round. In the 2008–09 rankings, he fell from second to 13th place. His 2008–09 season began with a further setback as he was forced to withdraw from the 2008 Shanghai Masters and the 2008 Grand Prix after breaking his left arm playing football. At the 2009 World Championship, he reached the second round but lost 10–13 to Mark Selby. He fell further to 28th place in the 2009–10 rankings.
In the 2009–10 season, Dott reached the last 16 of just one ranking event prior to the 2010 World Championship. However, he performed strongly at the Crucible, defeating Mark Allen 13–12 in the quarter-finals and Selby 17–14 in the semi-finals to reach his third world final. He lost 13–18 to Robertson in another lengthy final that ended at 12:54 a.m., but his ranking points as runner-up enabled him to re-enter the top 16 in the 2010–11 rankings. The following season, he reached the semi-finals of the 2011 German Masters but lost 4–6 to Selby. At the 2011 World Championship, he lost in the quarter-finals to eventual runner-up Judd Trump. Dott struggled in the 2011–12 season, losing the final of the non-ranking 2012 Snooker Shoot-Out to Barry Hawkins and reaching one ranking quarter-final at the 2012 World Open. At the 2012 World Championship, he lost 1–10 in the first round to Perry and described his performance as the worst he had ever played as a professional. Perry, who made a highest break in the match of just 59, acknowledged that he had also played poorly but said he felt sorry for Dott.At the 2013 Masters, Dott produced his career-best performance at the tournament, defeating Stephen Maguire 6–5 and Trump 6–1 to reach the semi-finals. Facing Selby, he led 4–1 before missing a pot on the black that would have given him a 5–1 lead, and Selby recovered to win 6–5. The 2013 World Championship was the last time Dott reached the Crucible as a top-16 seed. He defeated Ebdon 10–6 in a first-round match that lasted over seven hours; an extra session had to be added after the players failed to complete the match in the first two sessions. Afterwards, Dott criticised Ebdon's slow, deliberate style of play and called for a rule to limit the amount of time a player could spend over a shot. Facing Shaun Murphy in the second round, he recovered from 2–6 behind to tie the scores at 8–8, but Murphy won 13–11.
In the 2013–14 season, Dott reached the semi-finals of the 2013 International Championship but lost 7–9 to eventual winner Ding Junhui. He reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Open but lost 4–5 to Murphy, who fluked the final black in the deciding frame. At the 2014 China Open, he reached the quarter-finals but lost 3–5 to the world number one Robertson. Having fallen out of the top 16 after the 2014 German Masters, he competed in qualifying for the 2014 World Championship but lost 7–10 to Kyren Wilson in the last qualifying round. This ended his streak of 14 consecutive appearances since 1999.
At the 2014 UK Championship, Dott defeated Robertson in a deciding frame to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time since 2006. He took a 4–1 lead over Stuart Bingham in their quarter-final match but lost 5–6. Ranked 16th after the UK Championship, Dott dropped to 17th after the 2015 German Masters and never regained his top-16 standing thereafter. He qualified for the main stage of the 2015 World Championship and defeated Ricky Walden 10–8 in the first round, but he lost 5–13 in the second round to the eventual champion Bingham. The following season, Dott reached his first ranking semi-final in over two years at the 2016 German Masters but lost 2–6 to Martin Gould. He qualified for the 2016 World Championship but lost 4–10 to Mark Williams in the first round.