"I think that's the next big step" - Luke Littler excited by talk of £1million top prize at 2026 PDC World Darts Championship

Ever since Michael van Gerwen won his third world title back in 2019, the winner of the PDC World Darts Championship has earned themselves a whopping sum of £500,000. It's looking increasingly likely however, that Luke Littler's win earlier could be the last at this level. As the sport continues to grow, the next world champion could be in line for an even bigger payday.

Rumors have been circulating for some time that the winner of the 2026 World Darts Championship will receive £1,000,000. Former world champion Luke Humphries recently all but confirmed this in an interview. Littler himself, however, says he hasn’t heard anything about it.

"I've not been told anything," the teenage world champion recently told SportsBoom. "But obviously, it's been going around for many years. It's been £500,000 for the past however many years, but I think that's the next big step for us players [a £1m winning share]."

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If the winner of the PDC World Darts Championship does indeed gets £1million in prize money, the event could have an even more of an effect on the PDC Order of Merit. "Obviously, whoever wins it, they'll obviously go straight to number one," says Littler, who remains second in the world rankings currently. "So, if it's this year or if it's next year, I do feel 99.9 per cent sure it'll happen."

Littler (L) & Humphries (R) look set to battle for number one status over the coming years

As mentioned, the news of a prize money increase may have already been leaked by Luke Humphries. "I'm not fighting desperately to be world number one. I'd rather be world champion, which he [Littler] is, so for him, I'm sure he'd be happier to be world champion than world number one," Cool Hand Luke recently told TalkSport. "For me, it doesn't matter what happens in the next six, seven, eight months. It's all about the world championships. We all know that the world champion is going to get a million quid."

"So, whoever wins that is going to be world number one. If I win that, I'll be world number one for a long time. If Luke wins that he's going to be world number one for a long time," Humphries concluded.

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