Darts sensation Luke Littler guaranteed bigger payday than 7,551 tennis stars earned for whole of 2023

Darts sensation Luke Littler guaranteed bigger payday than 7,551 tennis stars earned for whole of 2023

Watch now: Phil Taylor on retiring from darts

Stuart Ballard

By Stuart Ballard


Published: 22/12/2023

- 12:32

Updated: 22/12/2023

- 12:33

16-year-old Luke Littler is set for a massive payday no matter what happens in his next World Darts Championship match.

Luke Littler may only just be making his professional debut at the World Darts Championship at the age of 16, but he's already guaranteed a huge bumper payday to make him the envy of some other sports stars.

The World Darts Championship is the pinnacle for men and women in the game with a multi-million pound prize pot available to those who make it through to the main draw.


Littler qualified via the PDC Development Tour, where he won an astonishing five titles and finished second on the Order of Merit.

That saw him finish the year with a prize fund pot sitting at just over £20,000 with £2,500 won for each victory.

Luke Littler is set for a huge payday

Luke Littler is set for a huge payday

PA

The teenage sensation then bagged his biggest payday at the World Youth Championships in November, picking up £10,000 for winning the event.

But the biggest prize was up for grabs at Alexandra Palace for Littler, with those losing in the first round still getting £7,500.

Littler never looked like exiting in the first round though and his two wins has now guaranteed the biggest single payday of his young career.

Third round losers are given £25,000 with the prize money significantly increasing in the latter rounds.

That currently puts Littler's earnings for 2023 at little over £55,000, which may make some women on the WTA Tour envious.

Littler would find himself sitting 307th on the WTA Tour prize money leaderboard with his 2023 earnings - ahead of 3,619 players.

That would put him above British players such as Alicia Barnett and Emily Appleton and only just short of former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.

He would also place above the majority of the ATP Tour players as he would sit 385th on their prize money leaderboard for 2023, earning more than 3,932 male tennis stars for the year - above season pros such as Kevin Anderson and Bernard Tomic among others.

Littler will fancy his chances of adding to his prize pot after Christmas as well as he takes on Matt Campbell in the next round.

The teenager appeared to hint that he was grateful for Campbell beating James Wade to make his challenge a bit easier to progress even further.

Luke Littler has already earned his biggest payday in reaching the third round

Luke Littler has already earned his biggest payday in reaching the third round

PA

"I'm glad I'm coming back after Christmas. As soon as he beat Wade, my eyes lit up but I knew I had to get past Christian then Andrew and I'm coming back to face Matt," Littler said.

"I'll take it game by game and just play who's up against me.

"Matt beat Wade, a multiple major winner, and what he's done so far is good for Canadian darts but it's me or him now."

LATEST SPORT NEWS:

Luke Littler fancies his chances of going even further

Luke Littler fancies his chances of going even further

PA

Making it through to the fourth round would add a further £10,000 to Littler's prize fund with £50,000 up for grabs for making it to the quarter-final.

That figure doubles for semi-finalists and doubles again to £200,000 for the tournament runner-up.

But the biggest prize is reserved for the winner with the world champion taking home £500,000.

You may like