Darts Star Leaks PDC Payslip to Show Just How Much Players Are Really Paid

A darts player once leaked his payslip to show fans how much he and other competitors get paid from taking part in the World Darts Championship.

Luke Littler has become the sport's main star thanks to his remarkable rise to become the youngest world champion in darts history.

The Nuke won the 2025 PDC World Championship aged just 17 and only turned 18 in January of this year.

The Warrington-born player caused some raised eyebrows and concerns amongst fans when he teased that he could be soon taking a break from the sport.

However, this proved to not ultimately be the case.

It turned out to be Littler teaming up to support the launch of the next instalment of the popular football video game EA Sports FC 26, which the darts star has often expressed love for and has teamed up with Xbox to publicise the product.

The World Darts Championship saw 96 players take part and a prize fund of a cool £2.5m was available.

Littler picked up a cool £500,000 for emerging victorious at the Alexandra Palace on that occasion, while any player was eligible to collect £60,000 for completing one particular feat.

Any player who hit a nine-darter would receive the bonus, with Damon Heta and Christian Kist among those to collect the five-figure pay days from this one act alone.

Matthew Edgar once shared his PDC payslip to explain how much players earn. (Image: Getty)

Matthew Edgar has participated in several darts tournaments since joining the PDC in 2011 and has been involved in three PDC World Championships.

He appeared in the competition on three occasions, reaching to the first round twice and then getting to his second round in 2021. He earned £30,000 overall from his appearances- made up of two £7,500 payments and one to the tune of £15,000.

He once shared a video on TikTok explaining just how the salary works when competing on the very biggest stage in darts.

He shared his official remittance notice from the PDC and explained that there were a number of deductions which reduced the fee he came out with overall.

For participating in the 2019/20 Championship, he was given prize money of £7,500, but had a number of deductions which dropped his overall earnings to £6,800.

Edgar said: "There are deductions which need to come off this. All PDC players are self-employed contractors, not employess of the PDC and so we get remittance notices. We get deductions, two per cent is your PDC levy - that comes off everything before you even get it and comes from playing on the Challenge tour to being world champion.

"We all pay two per cent on our prize money before we even get it. Not only that, you've got to consider your membership fees - £500 is your membership which goes before you even get it. That's a once a year fee and your DRA fee as well.

"£6,800 is what came into my bank account from the first round defeat. From that, I've got to deduct my travel, my hotel and any other costs with that. Then, the money that is left is open to tax."

For the 2026 tournament, the total prize money has doubled following an announcement from PDC chairman Eddie Hearn with the overall sum now £5m and the winner to scoop a cool £1m as a result.

The runner-up will receive £400,000, with semi-finalists pocketing £200,000, £100,000 for quarter-finalists and £60,000 for last 16 losers.

Last 32 losers will pick up £35,000, while last 64 losers will claim £25,000 and last 128 losers will still come away with £15,000.