"Jules van Dongen received over 40 death threats" - USA's World Cup of Darts star under fire from unhappy gamblers after group stage exit

For USA, the 2024 World Cup of Darts ended in a big disappointment. After previously losing their opening match 4-2 to Portugal, Jules van Dongen and Danny Lauby also lost their second group match 4-2 to Italy. As a result, they finish bottom of their group and were handed a swift elimination as a result.

Whereas in their opening match they were still below 70 average, Van Dongen and Lauby showed some signs of improvement with an average of 78.37. Still, it proved insufficient to beat the Italy of Michele Turetta and Massimo Dalla Rosa.

Afterwards, Viaplay reporter Arjan van der Giessen shared a remarkable story about Van Dongen. "Jules just told me that after the lost match against Italy, he received more than 40 death threats, in addition to all kinds of other threats. These were addressed to himself, but also to his wife and children," Van der Giessen said.

"All because several gamblers had bet a lot of money on a USA victory," Van der Giessen continued. "I have read several of those reports, it defies any imagination."

Van Dongen immediately forwarded the messages all to the PDC. "This is going way, way too far," Van der Giessen said. "That you get something like this thrown at you is something nobody wants. I therefore hope that the PDC will do something about this."