Luke Littler effect laid bare as ticket demand for World Darts Championship skyrockets 12 months after his breakthrough
LUKE LITTLER’S sensational rise has sparked a huge increase in demand for World Darts Championship tickets.
The iconic event runs from December 15 to January 3 at Alexandra Palace in London.
Littler burst onto the scene last year as the 17-year-old wonderkid went on a stunning run to the final, before losing to Luke Humphries.
There has been a darts boom since and the amount of fans wanting tickets this time around has skyrocketed.
Double the number of tickets (+95 per cent) have been sold on Viagogo compared to the 2023 numbers.
They also add that there has been a 175 per cent increase in purchases for the final and over triple the number of sales (+230 per cent) for the semi-finals.
As the world No4, Littler gets a bye through the first round and will then play the winner of Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock on December 21.
That Saturday night session has outsold the same slot 12 months ago by more than three times over (+224 per cent).
Littler is fuelling the rise, with a seat at his first game wanted by 52 per cent more fans than Humphries’ opening night clash against either Joe Comito or Thibault Tricole.
In fact, aside from the semi-final and final, The Nuke’s match is the most in demand session.
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Darts World Championship full draw
Second round draw (seeded vs first-round winner)
- Luke Humphries vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito
- Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
- James Wade vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
- Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
- Stephen Bunting vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
- Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Ramza or Christian Kist
- Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
- Mike De Decker vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan
- Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
- Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
- Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas
- Ryan Searle vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
- Rob Cross vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer
- Gian van Veen vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
- Nathan Aspinall vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
- Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar
- Michael Smith vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
- Krzysztof Ratajski vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
- Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
- Josh Rock vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin
- Jonny Clayton vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
- Daryl Gurney vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan
- Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
- Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen
- Michael van Gerwen vs James Hurrell or Jim Long
- Brendan Dolan vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
- Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting
- Ross Smith vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
- Dave Chisnall vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
- Gabriel Clemens vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
- Dimitri Van den Bergh vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin
- Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac
Darts has also overtaken F1, boxing and the NFL in terms of sales via Viagogo to become the second most popular sport on their UK site.
Viagogo chief Matt Drew said: “It’s clear Luke Littler has captivated a new wave of darts fans, and at such a young age, he’s already proving the most popular player in the sport.”