Luke Littler to lose nearly half of 500k darts prize money after win | Other | Sport
Luke Littler became the youngest world darts champion in history and added a whopping £500,000 to his career earnings, but is set to lose almost half of his winnings.
The 17-year-old, who dominated Michael van Gerwen in the Alexandra Palace final to win 7-3, went one step further than last year after finishing as runner-up to Luke Humphries.
He entered the tournament as the favourite to win the £500k prize and duly lived up to that tag, holding the Sid Waddell Trophy aloft and receiving a cheque for a cool half a million pounds.
However, he won’t be seeing the entirety of that cash. Tax laws in the UK state that Littler will have to give up a whopping £223,213 to HMRC.
He will also forfeit as much as £12,010 in National Insurance, according to the Daily Mail, adding up to over £230k and just under half of his Ally Pally winnings.
Littler raised an eyebrow while standing on the stage hearing that he had won £500k, but in the knowledge that a significant portion would be given to the taxman.
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Just last year, after Littler walked away from the same stage with £200k as he became a household name overnight, he was taunted by the HMRC official social media account.
“Big congrats to Luke on his fantastic run to the final,” the HMRC Press Office account wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “We can confirm the existence of income tax.”
No such message has been relayed by the same account a year later, as HMRC stand to take an even greater sum away from Littler 12 months on.
But the Runcorn-born star won’t be phased after being tipped to earn £50m across his career if his winnings, endorsements and sponsorships continue at a similar rate.
Sponsorship and marketing consultant Nigel Currie told The Mirror: “It’s just perfect timing for Luke. Darts continues to grow and it’s lucrative for all players, especially top ones. The TV viewing figures are incredible and the money is pouring into the sport like never before.
“It’s an unbelievable story to have such a young player at the top. He earned over £1m in prize money last year, and I suspect at least the same in sponsorship money, if not more. That is only going to get bigger and will make him a very rich young man indeed. The sky is the limit.
“A lot of potential sponsors will have been holding back last year, waiting to see if it was a fluke tournament. But he has proven he is here to stay. He will be the pin-up boy of the sport for many years. The sponsors will be queuing up.”
