Luke Humphries says awarding the world champion a £1million top prize would send a stunning message to the rest of sport. Recent Ally Pally kings, including Humphries, have banked £500,000 out of a total prize pot of £2.5m. However, PDC chief Barry Hearn has long dreamed of upping the winner's prize to seven figures. That dream is closer to coming to fruition after Sky Sports and the PDC struck a £125m deal to extend their partnership until 2030. That is believed to be worth more than twice the amount of the previous contract.
While the World Championship winner's prize may not increase to £1m immediately, it could happen during that deal, which will mean huge paydays ahead for Humphries and current world champion Luke Littler. Hearn says a significant announcement about prize money will be made soon. "It's something [£1m to the world champion] that's Barry's always wanted to happen in this sport. He's been an advocate for it for many years," said Humphries in an exclusive interview for Reach's 2025 darts preview publication.
"It would be a real statement to the world of sport, and I do think it will happen. It would be a magical moment for darts. We [the PDC] started off at something like £12,000.". The winner of the first-ever PDC World Championship in 1993, Dennis Priestley, collected £16,000 before it dropped to £12,000 for 1995, when Phil Taylor won the crown. The World No. 1 added: "Then, when it got up to £100,000 [in 2006], everyone was like, 'wow, this is incredible!' Can you imagine 10 times that? It would be a massive statement from the PDC and it just shows how great the sport is growing.".
GET INVOLVED! Do you think the world champion should get £1m? Tell us in the comments section. Due to the PDC's two-year ranking system, Humphries will have a lot of money to defend over the next 12 months. The Berkshire thrower enjoyed a stunning 2023, winning three majors before clinching the 2024 world title. He must now defend those titles – or at least go deep in those tournaments – to avoid losing a big chunk of ranking points. In keeping with his nickname, Cool Hand isn't fazed one bit.
"Not at all, not one bit because I'd rather be defending it than not. It means I won," said Humphries, who won the first ranking event of the year, the World Masters, last weekend. "I'm probably not going to defend it all because I'd have to defend four major titles, including the World Championship. What you've got to do at the Matchplay [in July] and before is do better than you did before, which lessens the damage that I might receive at the back end of the year.
"If I don't win another penny for the rest of this year, I'll still be world No. 2. I've got an opportunity to stay number one as long as I can. "And it all depends on what happens next year with the prize money. If you've got the world champion getting a million pounds, if I win it, I'll be world No. 1 by a mile again. "And if Luke [Littler] doesn't win it either, someone else could be world No. 1, you just don't know what's going to happen with the game.".
