The darts world number one revealed how much darts players make, even before getting in front of the board
Darts player Luke Humphries has revealed just how much you can make in the profession.
The sport continues to grow exponentially, with names like Luke Littler driving the popularity and fanfare around the game upwards.
Littler is ranked at just number four in the world, an impressive feat nonetheless, but what about the best in the game?
Enter Luke Humphries.
Littler and Humphries are becoming the faces of British darts (Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Sky)
The current world number one was the only player that got the best of Littler during his breakout 2024 PDC World Darts Championship run, where he went in with 66/1 odds and made the final, going viral in the process for his age.
There, he lost to Humphries 7-4, aged just 16 years and 347 days old, and has continued his upwards trajectory.
But as a world champion, Humphries has maintained his level and stayed at the top of the game, though the Brit lost out to Littler in the Premier League Darts final.
Both are at the top of the game, with the former recently appearing on JaackMaate’s Happy Hour podcast to reveal what money really looks like for a darts player.
Opening up by explaining that he had less risk when trying his hand at the sport, as he had savings, a job, and was working at home, he admitted that ‘it all worked out so well’ in the end.
Speaking about the first year of his career, where he played then world number two Rob Cross, Humphries admitted that he made £50k from that, adding: “That was a nice bit of lump sum in your bank again.
“And then I did it again (the next year). Made the quarter finals again, another 50 grand, obviously winning money in between that as well,” he recalled, saying it quickly adds up to six figures, taking away the pressure.
He then revealed how much he gets paid before stepping up to the board at all, saying that sponsors come in, explaining: “They’re paying you like five, 10 grand for each sponsor, you’re kind of getting £30/40,000 on your shirt before you’ve even thrown a dart!”
Humphries revealed that a lot of his income comes from sponsors (TikTok/JaackMaate)
He went on: “This was like, seven years ago. That’s already a year’s salary, without winning anything!”
Humphries also described his first payment as ‘bloody lovely’, while sharing his thoughts on today’s payments, calling it ‘ridiculous’ and ‘silly money’, adding: “When you see that half a million going from the worlds, that is like, ‘whoa!'”
At the speed that darts is growing, don’t be too surprised if that number creeps closer to seven figures.Featured Image Credit: TikTok/jaackmaate/Nathan Stirk/Getty Images
Topics: Money, TikTok, Sport, Luke Littler
Joshua Nair
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Updated 20:32 8 Feb 2024 GMTPublished 20:29 8 Feb 2024 GMT
Luke Littler is currently banned from playing on other darts tour after making unbelievable amount of money
Luke Littler took the nation by surprise after reaching the final of the World Championship last month.
The teenage sensation – who almost made us change our name to LITTLERbible – stole the heart of the nation when he reached the final of the World Championship last month.
He somehow made people – who don’t like darts – like darts.
The Warrington-based youngster, 17, has since followed up his Alexandra Palace heroics by winning the Bahrain Masters and reaching the final of the Dutch Masters.
How Luke Littler got into darts
Credit: Sky Sports
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Nicknamed ‘The Nuke’, he said: “It’s just been crazy but I’ve just been living how I have been doing – chilling when I have time off but when I’m at my darts events, being fully focused.
“That’s what I have always done. I have always been myself and keep myself to myself.”
Asked if he has enjoyed being interviewed so often, he said: “I have and I haven’t. It does get very boring!”
Now, this comes after a new revelation that Littler is likely to get banned from playing in another darts tours, but for a good reason.
Joris Verwijst/BSR Agency/Getty Images
In the newest video on his YouTube channel, former PDC tour card holder Matthew Edgar explained: “He’s going to be a bit more restricted going into 2024 and part of that comes down to the fact he’s now a tour card holder.
“By being a PDC Tour card holder means he can’t play in streamed events such as the Super Series, he can’t play in the WDF, he can’t play in the ADC tournaments.
“That’s something we knew. That’s something you expect being a tour card holder.
“The one thing you don’t fully expect is to not be fully eligible for the Development Tour.
“The Development Tour is a tour that is made for players aged 16 to 23.
“Luke Littler does fall in that bracket… but [he’s] no longer eligible.
Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images
“The reason for that is because he’s now in the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit.
“It doesn’t restrict tour card holders so you will see tour card holders playing in that system unless they’re in the top 32.
“Now Luke Littler is going to be in the top 32 because of the £200,000 he won at the World Championship for at least this year and next year before he drops out of there, which means we’re not going to see Luke Littler back on that Development Tour until he’s at least 19.
“And the darts he’s playing, I would dare say we’re never going to see Luke Littler once again playing on that Development Tour.”Featured Image Credit: Ryan Hiscott/Joris Verwijst/BSR Agency/Getty Images
Topics: Luke Littler, Sport
Anish Vij
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Published 15:33 4 Jan 2024 GMT
How much money Luke Littler will actually get from World Darts Championship
Luke Littler lost the PDC World Darts Championship final to Luke Humphries.
16-year-old prodigy Luke Littler has proved that age really is just a number after lighting up the world of darts with his record-breaking world championship run.
Luke Littler on missing vital dart
Credit: ITV
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People who don’t even watch darts have tuned in over the last few weeks to watch the talented teenager push aside high-ranked players to make it all the way to the PDC World Darts Championship final last night (3 January).
Sadly for Littler, it was world-number-one Luke Humphries who came out on top at the Alexandra Palace with a 7-4 victory, which saw him lift the Sid Waddell trophy for the first time.
Although Humphries won, Littler made history as the youngest ever player to compete in the tournament and make it to the final, as well as receiving a hero’s reception at the end of the match.
Speaking of the experience after last night’s final, Littler said to press: “It’s been unbelievable, I just wanted to win one game and come back after Christmas, that was the only goal I set, so this is a massive bonus.
Tom Dulat/Getty Images
“No one likes losing, I have not really lost much, so to lose on that stage I can’t really be angry, the only thing I am angry about is that I lost a lot of legs on my throw and I was just chasing Luke.
“I have won six games here so why can’t I go and win seven here in years to come. I have gained a lot of experience and stage experience, I am in the top 32 now so I could be in everything.
“The past three to four weeks have been unbelievable and now I just can’t wait to go home. I’m sorry I couldn’t give the crowd what they wanted.”
By finishing in second place, Littler has shown a maturity way beyond his years as he’s confident of picking up a trophy very soon.
And it wasn’t for nothing either, as the young man also pocketed an eye-watering cash prize along the way.
Littler will be given a whopping £200,000 as runner-up, while Humphries will take away a tidy £500,000 prize.
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Getty Stock Photo
However, according to investment platform Saxo, their estimates suggest that Littler will have to pay £76,203 in tax, as well as £7,330 in National Insurance, which means his winnings will be sliced by almost half.
Although children can usually avoid tax threshold, the World Darts Championship runner-up won’t have that luxury.
Andrew Mangion, Head of Tax Product at Saxo, said: “Everybody needs to pay tax, no matter their age, and under 18s have the same personal allowance as adults. Normally children don’t work or if they do, their pay is generally under the tax free allowance.
“In this case, it’s rare for a teenager to come into so much money in one lump sum and we would advise him to take professional financial advice on how to best act on this.”
His take home pay is estimated to be around £116,467.
Still not bad for a 16-year-old, or a person of any age!Featured Image Credit: Tom Dulat/Getty Images/Getty Stock Photo
Topics: Luke Littler, Sport
Anish Vij
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Updated 20:38 3 Jan 2024 GMTPublished 20:25 3 Jan 2024 GMT
Darts final viewers all make same complaint as Luke Littler’s opponent Luke Humphries makes entrance
Everyone loves Luke Littler but his opponent seems like a decent bloke too
The climactic confrontation between darts prodigy Luke Littler and world number one Luke Humphries has started, but fans aren’t happy about something.
Even people who aren’t normally fans of darts have been swept up in the mania around Luke Littler given his prodigious talent and sudden emergence.
Luke Littler asks crowd if he should go for 170 checkout
Credit: X/@OfficialPDC
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Having made it all the way to the final of the World Darts Championship on his debut, Littler is the youngest ever finalist and victory would, of course, make him the youngest ever champion by some distance.
People have found Littler to be an incredibly endearing and charming presence on the darts scene – making it hard not to root for him and cap off the story of his incredible emergence with a fairytale ending.
However, those viewing the final have taken issue with something – the booing of Luke Humphries as he entered the Ally Pally.
Tom Dulat/Getty Images
Littler entered to rapturous cheers as the new hero of darts got a worthy welcome, but through no fault of his own, poor old Humphries has ended up as the unintentional villain of the piece.
He’s done nothing wrong besides being exceptional at darts and making his way to the final, but now Humphries is the only thing standing between Luke Littler and the perfect ending to the 16-year-old’s story.
While there were plenty of cheers for Humphries as he made his entrance, there were also a smattering of boos and a number of darts fans took to social media to call it out.
Plenty wanted to know ‘why are they booing Luke Humphries’ while someone else quipped that the world number one was ‘being chucked into a f**king cauldron here’.
Someone else said the people in the crowd booing Humphries were ‘d**kheads’, so it’s clear that plenty still love him and reckon he’s a nice guy.
X/@LukeTheNuke180
Others who were rooting for Littler said that ‘booing Luke Humphries is just not the one’ and that the boos from the Ally Pally crowd were an ‘absolute disgrace’.
By all accounts, Littler and Humphries seem to get along pretty well, and they’ve actually played against each other before.
The pair previously competed against each other in late 2019 when Littler was 12, and it was the far more experienced Humphries who took the win.
People have discovered an old tweet from Littler saying he was beaten by Humphries but gave his opponent a ‘great game’.
Before the final, Littler joked with Sky Sports that he ‘had to let him win’ as he was ‘only 12’ when they last competed.Featured Image Credit: Sky News
Topics: Sport, Luke Littler
Joe Harker
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Published 08:15 3 Jan 2024 GMT
People who bet just £10 on Luke Littler to win World Darts Championship are set to win a lot of money tonight
The 16-year-old is on course to completing his history-making World Championship dream
If you’re one of those fans who bet just £10 on Luke Littler to win the PDC World Darts Championship – you are set to win a heck of lot of money tonight.
Luke Littler asks crowd if he should go for 170 checkout
Credit: X/@OfficialPDC
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Without a doubt, the 16-year-old, from Cheshire, has been the surprise package of this year’s competition after becoming the youngest-ever PDC finalist.
Last night (2 January), he got one step closer to his dream after securing a place in the final with a convincing win over Rob Cross.
He won 6-2 in sets, producing three 130-plus checkouts while averaging 106.05.
Sky Sports
“I haven’t got the words. It’s crazy,” he said.
“I have just settled on that stage.
“It has not even sunk in yet.
“I have surprised myself.
“I have just got to stay focused and be Luke Littler.
“I have got to be mature and be myself.
“It would be unbelievable if I won it, I only wanted to win one match.”
Littler is also on track to becoming a very wealthy man.
Having reached the final, he is guaranteed an eye-watering £200,000 – and if he manages to go all the way – he’ll get a whopping £500,000.
However, it’s not just Littler who will profit big from tonight’s (3 January) final against world number one Luke Humphries.
Tom Dulat/Getty Images
Some betting fans – who put as little as £10 on Littler to win the lot – managed to get in on ridiculous 300/1 odds.
That’s a £3,000 profit.
Taking to X (Twitter), one better tweeted: “I had an each way bet for him to win the whole thing. I get paid regardless of what happens now.”
“Fingers crossed he can do the job,” a second added, while someone else said: “I’ve got him on 66/1 outright. Not taking the cash out as I’m not gonna lie, I had no idea who the lad was and slapped the bet on as a laugh knowing he was 16 years old, sticking by him now.”
X/William Hill
Whatever happens in tonight’s final, Luke ‘the Nuke’ has already made history by becoming the youngest person to win a quarter final game at the World Darts Championships.
This all happened after he faced one of his heroes, Raymond van Barneveld.
After beating the Dutchman, Littler said: “It’s incredible beating one of my idols on the biggest stage of all, I still can’t believe it. I think I am daring to dream now, I have seen the draw.
“I’m so young, only 16 and I have got nothing to fear, I have got no one to fear, my game can be better than anyone’s on the day and I have shown it there against one of the greatest to have graced that stage.
“With performances like that I can go all the way. I’ve pictured myself winning it.
“I fancy myself. I do fancy myself.”
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