World Darts Championship Prize Money 2026/27: £5m Breakdown
Last updated: October 2026. The prize fund below is the confirmed breakdown for the 2026/27 championship. This page will be updated if the PDC announces any change before the tournament starts.
Quick Answer
The World Darts Championship 2026/27 has a total prize fund of £5 million, double last year’s fund. The winner takes home £1 million, the first seven-figure cheque in darts history, the runner-up gets £400,000, and every one of the 128 players is guaranteed at least £15,000 just for reaching the first round.
Table of Contents
The full breakdown
The £5 million is shared across all 128 players, and the money climbs steeply the deeper a player goes. Winning one match doubles a player’s cheque, and the jump from the semi-finals to the trophy is the biggest of all: the champion earns two and a half times what the runner-up takes home.
| Stage | Players | Prize money |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1 | £1,000,000 |
| Runner-up | 1 | £400,000 |
| Semi-finalists | 2 | £200,000 |
| Quarter-finalists | 4 | £100,000 |
| Fourth round | 8 | £60,000 |
| Third round | 16 | £35,000 |
| Second round | 32 | £25,000 |
| First round | 64 | £15,000 |
| Total fund | 128 | £5,000,000 |
Two things stand out in that table. The first is the floor: a player who qualifies, loses their opening match and goes home on day one still banks £15,000, which matters a great deal to the qualifiers further down the rankings who fund their season from events like this. The second is how top-heavy the fund has become. The winner alone takes a fifth of the entire pot, so one night on 3 January is worth more than most players will earn in several seasons.
The stage-by-stage dates for when those rounds are played sit on the World Darts Championship dates and key facts page.
How it compares with last year
Every figure in the table has doubled. Last year’s championship played for a £2.5 million fund that had been frozen since 2019, with £500,000 for the winner, £200,000 for the runner-up, £100,000 for the semi-finalists and £50,000 for the quarter-finalists. This year each of those cheques is exactly twice the size, and the £15,000 first-round payment is double last year’s as well.
The freeze was the story for a long time. Winners collected £250,000 in 2014 and £300,000 in 2016, the fund then sat at £2.5 million for six years, and in one jump it has now gone to £5 million. It is the largest single increase the championship has ever had, and it turns the winner’s cheque into something darts has never seen before: a seven-figure prize for one tournament.
The growth of the event explains where the money comes from. The championship has expanded to 128 players and moved into the Great Hall at Alexandra Palace, taking the ticket total to around 180,000, and the television audience has grown with it. Bigger crowds and bigger audiences are what a doubled prize fund looks like when it lands in the players’ hands.
The nine-dart bonus
On top of the round-by-round money, there is a £60,000 bonus for a nine-dart finish, the perfect leg. Sixteen nine-darters have been thrown in the championship’s history, two of them in finals, so it is rare enough that some years nobody collects it at all.
Last year the sponsor, Paddy Power, raised the stakes further: every nine-darter triggered a £180,000 pot, split three ways between the player, Prostate Cancer UK and one fan picked from the crowd in that session. The same sponsor also donates £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180 thrown in the tournament, which is why a nine-darter at Ally Pally now sets off a bigger celebration than the leg itself.
What the money does to the rankings
Prize money at the World Championship is not just income. Every pound a player wins counts toward the PDC Order of Merit, the two-year ranking list that decides tour cards, seedings and places in the biggest events. With the fund doubled, this one tournament now moves the rankings more than ever.
That cuts both ways. A qualifier who reaches the third round banks £35,000 of ranking money and can transform their next two seasons, while a top player defending a big cheque from two years ago can slide down the list with one bad night. Players who finish outside the top 64 on the Order of Merit after the championship can lose their tour card altogether, which is why the early rounds at Ally Pally carry more pressure than the prize table alone suggests.
Questions fans ask
How much does the winner of the World Darts Championship get?
The winner of the 2026/27 championship receives £1,000,000, the first seven-figure winner’s cheque in darts history. The total prize fund is £5 million.
What does the runner-up get?
The runner-up receives £400,000. Losing semi-finalists get £200,000 each and losing quarter-finalists £100,000 each.
How much does a player get for losing in the first round?
£15,000. Every one of the 128 players in the championship is guaranteed at least that amount, and it doubles to £25,000 for winning one match.
Has the prize money gone up this year?
Yes, it has doubled. The fund was £2.5 million last year, a figure it had stayed at since 2019, and the winner’s cheque has risen from £500,000 to £1,000,000.
Is there a bonus for a nine-dart finish?
Yes, a nine-dart finish earns a £60,000 bonus. Last year the sponsor also split a £180,000 pot for each nine-darter between the player, Prostate Cancer UK and a fan in the crowd.
Does the prize money count towards the world rankings?
Yes. World Championship prize money counts toward the PDC Order of Merit, the two-year ranking list used for tour cards, seedings and qualification for other major events.
Conclusion
A £5 million fund, a £1 million winner’s cheque and £15,000 guaranteed for every qualifier: this is the richest championship darts has ever staged, and every round from 11 December changes somebody’s career. When the final comes around on 3 January, you can watch the championship live through the official broadcasters, and StreamMatch will keep this page current if any figure changes before the first dart is thrown.
