Luke Littler guaranteed £60,000 jackpot for every nine-darter at World Darts Championship thanks to generous sponsor
LUKE LITTLER will bag himself £60,000 for every nine-dart finish he puts up at the World Championship.
The highly-anticipated Ally Pally tournament is set to get underway on December 15.
The winner of darts’ most prestigious competition will bank £500,000 in prize money, while second place will earn a cool £200,000.
But you don’t have to get far to start earning the big bucks after the PDC confirmed that sponsor Paddy Power will be paying £60,000 to every player that pulls of a nine-darter.
The Irish bookmakers are also committing to giving one lucky fan at Ally Pally £60k and donating a further £60k to Prostate Cancer UK for every perfect leg.
The generous gesture, which totals £180,000 for every nine-darter, has been labelled as The BIGGER 180 by Paddy Power.
However, not every player in the field is eligible for the prize money with Luke Littler the only star in the 96-strong field of players who can’t win the cash.
That’s because Littler, 17, is the only competitor under the age of 18, making him ineligible for prize money from a betting company.
But another generous sponsor has swooped in to save the day and ensure that the sport’s most famous player at the moment isn’t left out.
Village Hotels have pledged to put up the £60,000 prize for Littler if he is to hit a nine-darter during the fast-approaching tournament.
A spokesperson from Village Hotels said: “What Paddy Power and the PDC have done in supporting Prostate Cancer UK through The BIGGER 180 campaign has been remarkable, and the nine-darter bonus promises to make this year’s even bigger.
“But given what Luke has done in the sport already, and our close bond developed with the PDC since joining as a partner, we couldn’t see one of the biggest names miss out – so we wanted to do our bit.
“But if helps inspire Luke to hitting the magic number, and if it means more money goes to saving lives as part of the wider campaign, then it’ll be a small price to pay.”
As rare as a nine-dart finish is, Village Hotels certainly could have to pay up with Littler already earning himself two perfect legs this year.
The Nuke hit nine-dart finishes in both the Bahrain Darts Masters and the Premier League darts this year.
While 55 players have hit a nine-darter in PDC competition this year alone.
However, the pressure of the World Championship could always mean that we go without seeing the sensational finish altogether.
Paddy Power have made sure that there will still be some charitable donations regardless of a nine-darter too.
The bookies have committed to donating £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180 hit at Ally Pally as well.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries