Luke Littler is the World Darts Champion but can't even buy darts from a shop in the UK because he's not yet 18. The little-known law means that retailers couldn't sell darts to the 17-year-old because they are classed as age-restricted items, like knives, under legislation in Great Britain, as detailed by credit investment platform Saxo.
The sharpness of the darts make them a potentially dangerous object which can only be purchased once people are 18. It means shops could face fines of up to £5,000 if they sold a set of darts to Littler over the counter. Littler's success at Alexandra Palace on Friday night makes the law all the more ironic with the teenager seeing off Michael van Gerwen in dominant fashion to become world champion for the first time, landing The Nuke half a million in prize money in the process.
Across the duration of 2024 Littler landed himself just over £800,000 - which means his career earnings already dwarf the £1million mark. Once you factor in his exploits during 2023 Littler has already paid a staggering £452,772 in income tax. Littler missed out in the final 12 months ago, losing to Luke Humphries, but was relentless in his pursuit of a first world title. With time firmly on the 17-year-old's size there is already talk of him breaking all of the sport's major records, including Phil Taylor's haul of 16 World Darts Championships.
He said: "Deep down, if I want to try and break the record of Phil Taylor's then I'm sure I've got the ability to. If I want it, I'm sure I'll do it. I just need to keep going. The calendar is stacked all year round. I've said in previous interviews, if I win every major title in my career I'll be happy, but obviously I'd like to add to the world titles.
