How Much Can Darts Players Earn?

After recently looking into whether snooker was a budget-friendly career for those wishing to win World Championships at the Crucible Theatre, we believed it may make sense to make a similar case for those males and females who attempt to step to the oche.

With the pinnacle of any darts season being its own World Championships - one that is held at the famous Alexandra Palace in London, this is where the biggest reward pot of the year can be won and what better way to celebrate a new 12 months than by making a large amount of cash at the start.

The masterpiece event of the year and the highest prize money on deal at any stage, The PDC World Championship -
By TWsk - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85102750

While large can be determined in pounds, ₤ 500,000 to be accurate. That is the figure that is managed to the winner of the darts' showpiece occasion and the last person to receive this monetary flexibility was Luke Littler in 2025.

Then once again, not everybody can be happy adequate to call themselves as the very best darts gamer worldwide and although the winner gets a cool half million pounds for their efforts, a very first round departee will just make ₤ 7,500 by contrast.

To get a better idea of possible earnings, here is the breakdown of the significant ranking television events and PDC Pro Tour occasions and the cash prize that is afforded. Everyone desires the biggest prizes on deal, some may need to more than happy with whatever they can make along the method.

Naturally, the subject of earnings is essential to any guy or female who tosses arrows for a living and eventually all of it boils down to trying to make a living. Not just to pay the expenses, however to also get a much better ranking the PDC's Order of Merit.

The Order of Merit is a rolling two-year revenues list that manages those at the greater end to the much better paying tournaments. The more you earn over that rolling period, the most likely you are to appear at Alexandra Palace.

For example, here are there needed cut off points for 3 of the most significant annual competitors:

Players get approved for certain televised ranking events based upon their world ranking from the PDC Order of Merit, including:

Cazoo World Darts Championship - Top 32 at cut-off date

PDC World Darts Championship Betting Tips Guide

Betfred World Matchplay - Top 16 at cut-off date

World Matchplay Darts Betting Guide

BoyleSports World Grand Prix - Top 16 at cut-off date

World Grand Prix Darts Betting Guide

The top 32 is the most essential cut-off point of all and here is what the list presently appears like at the time of writing:

2024 World Champion Luke Humphries sits at the top of the list and the ₤ 500,000 he chose up at the start over 12 months ago sees him simply get the much better of current World Champion Luke Littler. Humphries has ₤ 1.8 m in incomes over the previous two years, his closest opposition is at ₤ 1.2 m.

The only 2 guys to exceed more than ₤ 1m in revenues during the designated duration and with previous World Champion Michael Van Gerwen having some work to do if he also wishes to clear this threshold as the Dutchman currently has just except ₤ 800k incomes to his name.

Micheal Smith 2023 PDC World Champion -
By Sven Mandel - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92970763

Gerwin sits 3rd after having actually made ₤ 779k, Rob Cross is fourth having made ₤ 566,000 over the previous two years. Not a figure that the Englishman will reject however one that highlights where the disparities start to start.

Once you get past Gerwyn Price in tenth place, no gamer has made over ₤ 500k. Remember Luke Littler earned this by winning the World Championship in 2025, this list is a step over two years.

Who's hitting bullseye in profits?

We also know that the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix just accept the leading 16 highest earners at their respective cut off dates, Gary Anderson with ₤ 428,250 to his name will hope it shows up rather soon, as 17th placed and 2023 World Champion Michael Smith Jose De Sousa is just ₤ 17,250 behind.

While we also know that the World Championship accepts the leading 32 immediately and at the time of writing, Luke Woodhouse and Brendan Dolan share this position ₤ 266,250 in profits each to their name and a race in between the two to gather more incomes now starts.

These are the players who will make the huge tournaments without breaking a sweat but where does the perspiration come around when gamers are starting to pay their costs. If we take the UK's average wage as ₤ 33,000, 2 years at this rate would require a player to make ₤ 66,000.

Now we know that we can see where the monetary belts may require to be tightened up:

At the present rate of UK wage revenues, only the leading 64 gamers can much better this through their Order of Merit revenues. Great news if you are Jeffrey De Graaf in 64th, not so great news if you are Thibault Tricole in 65th.

Although Tricole is just under the incomes limit, sponsorships are likely to keep him in steady financial health. This might also have to be offset versus visiting costs, however after simply losing out by ₤ 3,000 you get the feeling Thibault is not going to be retiring anytime soon.

Getting into the huge competitions is a breeze for leading gamers, however footing the bill? Not so simple!

With that said, simply 64 players being able to beat the UK average salary is a somewhat stressing issue, there is no doubt that darts has actually evolved from pastime to sport however the elephant in the room is whether it is growing quick enough.

In fairness that growth can also be determined by the reality that 96 gamers make their way to Alexandra Palace each year intending for a shot of glory and each of them will take home a minimum benefit of ₤ 7,500.

But what if we looked at the 96th player in the existing Order of Merit and saw how their profits compared:

For example, If we look at the revenues of Justin Hood in 96th it does not produce especially excellent reading. He has actually presently made an average of ₤ 3,750 - a figure that is less than a very first round exit of the World Championship.

An Exception

Matt Edgar - Darts Professional and OLBG Darts Expert

The labor is even worse if you are Thomas Lovely who complete the leading 100. With ₤ 5,250 made during the current Order of Merit cycle, this equates to just ₤ 2,625 a year. Far except the ₤ 33,000 which is the UK's average wage.

Not just that, however the lower down the darts totem pole, the lower the sponsorship deals can command in value and if Thibault Tricole can manage on an extra financial inducement, the exact same can not be stated for Lovely in 100th.

Something that used to recommend that if you break into the top 64 you can start to begin dreaming of quiting the day job and in turn, you can also dream about dominating the world. Now however, with the pro trip now set to go mid week, it will be an option in between the task and the career. Whereas before, darts' weekend warriors would rack up the trip reward money, midweek matches are a various proposition and if players wish to play all the upcoming schedule, a minimum of 2 months off a year is unrealistic. Now that dream about dominating the world may need to be placed on the back burner if the sums do not checkout.