Luke Littler wins the Grand Slam of Darts (Picture: PDC)

How Luke Littler won over £1 million in prize money during his remarkable debut season as a PDC darts professional

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Wed November 20, 2024 · 4h ago

Luke Littler has incredibly earned over £1 million in total prize money in his debut season as a darts professional after his breathtaking victory at the Grand Slam of Darts.

Hours after producing a thrilling comeback to defeat the legendary Gary Anderson 16-15 in one of the most captivating Grand Slam matches ever seen, the 17-year-old returned to the Wolverhampton stage for less than 35 minutes to destroy Martin Lukeman 16-3 and claim his maiden ranked PDC major title.

As well as getting his hands on a trophy named after another 'generational talent' in Eric Bristow, Littler pocketed a cheque for £150,000 that lifted him up to fifth in the world rankings on £558,500 and only behind Luke Humphries (£1,709,250), Michael van Gerwen (£912,500), Michael Smith (£886,000) and Rob Cross (£618,750).

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However, the Warrington ace has banked almost double that amount due to his many other successes in non-ranked tournaments such as the highly-lucrative Premier League that isn't included in the

However the PDC's Order of Merit, which is based on prize money won over a two-year period, obviously doesn't take into account unranked tournaments such as the highly lucrative Premier League and the World Series Tour.

Littler has banked almost half a million pounds in those events, including a whopping £275,000 for beating world champion Luke Humphries in the Premier League final back in May, which means his grand total in all competition now stands at an eye-watering £1,023,500.

Most professional never reach the million pound barrier during their entire careers and those who do will usually take many years to achieve a feat that Littler has managed in less than 12 months.

Here, we chart his meteoric rise in prize money...

JANUARY

Tournaments Entered: 3 (including Worlds)
Tournaments Won: 1 (Bahrain Darts Masters, £20k)
Total Prize Money Earned: £230,000
Cumulative Yearly Total: £230,000

Prior to the 2024 World Championship, Luke Littler was ranked 164 with just £2,500 prize money which he'd pocketed from his appearance as an amateur qualifier at the 2023 UK Open.

By January 3, the 16-year-old had scooped £200,000 as runner-up to Luke Humphries following his awe-inspiring heroics at the Ally Pally that took the whole sporting world by storm and saw him become a celebrity overnight.

This remarkably lifted him to just inside the world's top 32 and, crucially, earned him an invitation to the Premier League and the World Series Tour of events.

The latter began almost immediately in Bahrain, with Littler hitting a nine-darter against Nathan Aspinall in en route to beating Michael van Gerwen in the final.

The title earned him £20,000 and he'd pick up a further £10,000 a week later for finishing runner-up to MVG in the second World Series event in the Netherlands.

FEBRUARY

Tournaments Entered: 4 (Excluding PL nights)
Tournaments Won: 1 (Players Championship 1, £15k)
Total Prize Money Earned: £19,500
Cumulative Yearly Total: £249,500

It was a huge month for Littler as he made his eagerly anticipated debut in the Premier League, while he also made an explosive start to life on the PDC Pro Tour by firing a nine-dart finish en route to winning the opening Players Championship event of the season.

The Nuke's perfect leg against Michele Turetta saw him become the youngest ever player to achieve the feat on the Pro Tour at the age of 17 - breaking the record set by 18-year-old Leighton Bennett just an hour earlier!

If that wasn't enough, he averaged 109.64 to defeat Ryan Searle 8-7 in a pulsating final and collect a cheque for £15,000, with the latter managing a staggering 111.71 only to be outdone by the sport's new golden boy.

During first month of the Premier League campaign, Littler didn't pocket any of the £10,000 cheques on offer to players who win a night but he did collect £4,500 across the other three Players Championship events he entered.

MARCH

Tournaments Entered: 2 (Excluding PL nights)
Tournaments Won: 1 (Belgian Darts Open, £30k)
Total Prize Money Earned: £55,000
Cumulative Yearly Total: £304,500

Littler looked well on course to pick up his maiden PDC major title at the UK Open when averaging over 101 in all of his first three matches against James Wade, Martin Schindler and Dave Chisnall but an effort of 104.77 was enough to see off an inspired Damon Heta in the quarter-finals.

That run banked him £15,000 but a week later he won double that amount as he made a dream debut on the European Tour.

Littler averaged over 100 in four of his first five matches en route to the Belgian Darts Open final, where he produced yet another magical nine-darter in the 11th leg of a thrilling clash against Rob Cross that he won 8-7 despite a slightly lower average of 104 compared to Voltage's 108.

Littler ended the month by winning night nine of the Premier League campaign that bolstered his total prize money for the season by a further £10,000.

APRIL

Tournaments Entered: 4 (Excluding PL nights)
Tournaments Won: 1 (Austrian Darts Open, £30k)
Total Prize Money Earned: £56,500
Cumulative Yearly Total: £361,000

Littler made it four titles in as many months but had to wait until the last weekend of April to get his hands on the Green Jacket - and another cheque for £30,000 - for winning the Austrian Darts Open, defeating Joe Cullen in the final

Before that, Littler soared to the top of the Premier League table by winning two of the four nights - giving him a further £20,000 of bonus cash - and achieved 100+ averages in both of those finals against Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross.

Elsewhere, his runs in four other events (3x Pro Tour and 1x European Tour) earned him an additional £6,500.

MAY

Tournaments Entered: 2 (Including PL finale)
Tournaments Won: 1 (Premier League, £275k)
Total Prize Money Earned: £286,250
Cumulative Yearly Total: £647,250

Littler's biggest payday of his entire year arrived in typically blockbusting fashion at the O2 in London where a FOURTH nine-darter of the season - and second on TV - helped him defeat world champion Luke Humphries in the Premier League final.

The Warrington superstar avenged that Ally Pally defeat to Humphries with a thrilling 11-7 triumph in which he raised the roof at 5-5 when becoming just the second player to achieve a perfect leg in a Premier League final after Phil Taylor managed two of them against James Wade in the 2010 showpiece. Yet more fitting proof that he could enjoy a career just as spectacular as the legendary Power.

Remarkably his four nine darters during the season had all come in different tournament debuts that he'd gone on to win.

In terms of prize money, this magical night saw him take home £275,000 while earlier in the month he'd won another nightly Premier League bonus of £10,000 which helped him finish the regular season on top of the table on 40 points.

Elsewhere in May he picked up an underwhelming £1,250 for an early exit on the European Tour to another future star in Wessel Nijman.

JUNE

Tournaments Entered: 2
Tournaments Won: 1 (Poland Darts Masters, £20k)
Total Prize Money Earned: £25,000
Cumulative Yearly Total: £672,250

Although Littler was unable to main event Madison Square Garden after a semi-final exit at the US Darts Masters at the very start of June, he swiftly bounced back a fortnight later to pick up his second World Series event of the season in Poland.

Littler battled past Peter Wright and Michael Smith before brushing aside Rob Cross 8-3 in front of 9,000 fans at the PreZero Arena Gliwice to keep up his incredible run of winning a title in every month of the campaign.

JULY

Tournaments Entered: 4
Tournaments Won: 1 (Players Championship 15, £15k)
Total Prize Money Earned: £26,000
Cumulative Yearly Total: £698,250

Littler made a sluggish start to the month with two early exits at Players Championship events but that didn't dampen the hype ahead of his World Matchplay debut against Michael van Gerwen in Blackpool.

However, despite an average in excess of 100, the teenage sensation bowed out at the first hurdle and had to wait until the very last day of the month to pick up a seventh title of the season at Players Championship 15 with a fine victory over Wessel Nijman.

AUGUST

Tournaments Entered: 3
Tournaments Won: 0
Total Prize Money Earned: £16,500
Cumulative Yearly Total: £714,750

Littler's astonishing run of winning a title every month eventually came to an end in August but he still managed to reach a World Series final in Australia, which he lost to Gerwyn Price, while he bowed out to eventual champion Luke Humphries in the New Zealand semi-finals a week later.

He picked up a total of £15,000 from those efforts Down Under while there'd also been a very small cheque for £1,500 after a third-round loss in a Players Championship event at the start of the month.

SEPTEMBER

Tournaments Entered: 6
Tournaments Won: 2 (World Series of Darts Finals, £80k & Players Championship 20, £15k)
Total Prize Money Earned: £117,500
Cumulative Yearly Total: £832,250

A lightning start to the first day of September looked destined to end in a third European Tour title of the season when he cruised into the German Darts Championship final against a hapless Peter Wright.

However, despite leading 5-2 with an average of 112 compared to his opponent's 93, Snakebite somehow clawed his way back into the match with a sublime 146 checkout before reeling off another five legs in succession to pinch the title.

Littler, who ended up with an average 10 points higher than Wright with 107 had to settle for the runners-up cheque of 12,000 but a fortnight night he was celebrating a much bigger top prize of £80,000 at the lucrative World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam.

Apart from the fortune of surviving two match darts against Ross Smith in the opening round, the wonderkid was in frightening form across the two days, averaging over 102 in all five of his matches including one-sided victories over Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith in final while he also fired in 34 180s in just 68 legs.

In his next tournament two days later in the quieter surroundings of the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan, he won his third Players Championship title of the campaign thanks to a nail-biting 8-7 triumph over Stephen Bunting.

Littler had also defeated the likes of Luke Humphries and Dave Chisnall en route to the £15,000 cheque and although his other three tournaments this month (2x European Tour & 1 Players Championship) brought him 'just' £10,500 after early exits in all of them, that took nothing away from a glorious September.

OCTOBER

Tournaments Entered: 8
Tournaments Won: 0
Total Prize Money Earned: £36,500
Cumulative Yearly Total: £868,750

For the first time in his young career, Littler had to wake up to ridiculously harsh headlines about his performances on the dart board following his first-round exit against 'former butcher' Andrew Gilding at his debut European Championship.

It was the third time in a row that he'd crashed out at the first hurdle in a major ranked TV event having suffered the same fate against MVG at the World Matchplay back in July and also to Rob Cross in the World Grand Prix at the start of the October - but the Daily Mail were seemingly unaware of the breathtaking standard he'd been producing everywhere else since Blackpool.

October wasn't his best month of the year but on the European Tour he averaged 110, 117, 111 and 107 in his four games at the Czech Darts Open where Luke Humphries eventually ended his hopes in the semi-finals.

He also entered five Pro Tour events in October but 'only' managed to scoop a total of £13,000, with his best performance being a semi-final run at Players Championship 24.

NOVEMBER

Tournaments Entered: 1
Tournaments Won: 1
Total Prize Money Earned: £150,000
Cumulative Yearly Total: £1,018,750

Littler broke more records - and the million pound barrier - in a momentous November when becoming the youngest winner of a PDC ranked major at the Grand Slam of Darts.

And he did so in mind-boggling fashion, winning all seven of his matches with averages in excess of 102 - including a best of 112.16 in the group stages - while the manner of his victories underlined just what a darting monster the rest of the world are dealing with.

Not only was he able to destroy quarter-finalist Jermaine Wattimena 16-2 and runner-up Martin Lukeman 16-3 in around 30 minutes of unplayable darts, he also showed his immense character and battling spirit to come back from the brink against both Mike de Decker and Gary Anderson before edging last-leg deciders.

Lifting the Eric Bristow Trophy also joined MVG, Taylor and Peter Wright as the only players in history to win 10 or more PDC titles in a single season. Whether he can challenge MVG's all-time record of 25 in years to come, only time will tell.

Littler also broke the record for most 180s in a Grand Slam campaign with 60, which eclipsed the previous mark of 52 set by Adrian Lewis in 2013, and that's a remarkable stat considering he two of his best-of-31 leg contests were complete in less than 20 legs!

More importantly, his cheque for £150,000 took his PDC earnings to £1,018,750 ahead of the Players Championship Finals and, of course, another crack at the World Championship.