thumb|alt=Cliff Thorburn playing at a snooker table|[[Cliff Thorburn (pictured in 2007) dropped from first place in the previous list to third in 1982/1983.]]
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the governing body for professional snooker, first published official world rankings for players on the main tour for the 1976–77 season. Before this, for each tournament the defending champion was seeded first, and the previous year's runner-up second.
For the 1982–83 season, players' performances in the previous three World Snooker Championships (1980, 1981 and 1982) contributed to their points total. For each of the three years, the World Champion gained five points, the runner-up received four, losing semi-finalists got three, losing quarter-finalists got two, and losers in the last-16 round received a single point.
Ray Reardon, who had topped every previous ranking list except during 1981/1982, returned to first position, with nine points. The player whom Reardon replaced as number one, Cliff Thorburn, had eight points and dropped to third position. The penalty was applied in respect of Higgins's conduct at an exhibition match at Herringthorpe Leisure Centre in February 1981, when he was late returning to his match against Steve Davis, reportedly because he was playing Space Invaders.
Rankings
The world rankings for professional snooker players in the 1982–1983 season are listed below. Points gained in each of the three World Snooker Championships are shown, with the total number of points given in the last column. A "–" symbol indicates that the player did not participate in that year's championship.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|+Snooker world rankings 1982/1983
! scope=col| Ranking
! scope=col| Name
! scope=col| 1980
! scope=col| 1981
! scope=col| 1982
! scope=col| Total
|-
! scope=row | 1
|data-sort-value="Reardon, Ray" align=left| || 2 || 3 || 4 || 9
|-
! scope=row | 2
|data-sort-value="Higgins, Alex" align=left| || 4 || 1 || 5 || 8
|-
! scope=row |3
|data-sort-value="Thorburn, Cliff" align=left| || 5 || 3 || 0 || 8
|-
! scope=row | 4
|data-sort-value="Davis, Steve" align=left| || 2 || 5 || 0 || 7
|-
! scope=row | 5
|data-sort-value="Charlton, Eddie" align=left| || 2 || 1 || 3 || 6
|-
! scope=row | 6
|data-sort-value="Stevens, Kirk" align=left||| 3 || 1 || 2 || 6
|-
! scope=row | 7
|data-sort-value="Mountjoy, Doug" align=left| || 1 || 4 || 1 || 6
|-
! scope=row | 8
|data-sort-value="Taylor, David" align=left| || 3 || 2 || 0 || 5
|-
! scope=row | 9
|data-sort-value="Werbeniuk, Bill" align=left| || 1 || 2 || 1 || 4
|-
! scope=row | 10
|data-sort-value="White, Jimmy" align=left||| – || 0 || 3 || 3
|-
! scope=row | 11
|data-sort-value="Mans, Perrie" align=left| || 1 || 1 || 1 || 3
|-
! scope=row | 12
|data-sort-value="Spencer, John" align=left| || 1 || 1 || 1 || 3
|-
! scope=row | 13
|data-sort-value="Taylor, Dennis" align=left| || 1 || 2 || 0 || 3
|-
! scope=row | 14
|data-sort-value="Griffiths, Tery" align=left| || 1 || 2 || 0 || 3
|-
! scope=row | 15
|data-sort-value="Knowles, Tony" align=left| || – || 0 || 2 || 2
|-
! scope=row | 16
|data-sort-value="Thorne, Willie" align=left| || 0 || 0 || 2 || 2
|-
! scope=row |17
|data-sort-value="Francisco, Silvino" align=left| || – || – || 2 || 2
|-
! scope=row | 18
|data-sort-value="Miles, Graham" align=left| || 0 || 1 || 1 || 2
|-
! scope=row | 19
|data-sort-value="Virgo, John" align=left| || 1 || 0 || 1 || 2
|-
! scope=row | 20
|data-sort-value="Davis, Fred" align=left| || 1 || 1 || 0 || 2
|-
! scope=row | 21
|data-sort-value="Wych, Jim" align=left| || 2 || 0 || 0 || 2
|-
! scope=row | 22
|data-sort-value="Reynolds, Dean" align=left| || – || – || 1 || 1
|-
! scope=row |23
|data-sort-value="Fagan, Patsy" align=left| || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1
|-
! scope=row |24
|data-sort-value="Meo, Tony" align=left| || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1
|-
! scope=row | 25
|data-sort-value="Bear, John" align=left| || 0 || – || 0 || 0
|-
! scope=row | 26
|data-sort-value="Wilson, Cliff" align=left| || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
|-
! scope=row | 27
|data-sort-value="Martin, Dave" align=left| || – || 0 || 0 || 0
|-
! scope=row | 28
|data-sort-value="Meadowcroft, Jim" align=left| || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
|-
! scope=row | 29
|data-sort-value="Donnelly, Jim" align=left| || – || – || 0 || 0
|-
! scope=row | 30
|data-sort-value="Dunning, John" align=left| || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
|-
! scope=row | 31
|data-sort-value="Hallett, Mike" align=left| || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
|-
! scope=row | 32
|data-sort-value="Fitzmaurice, Jack" align=left| || – || – || 0 || 0
|}