World Darts Championship prize money: £1m winner as Ally Pally moves to Great Hall

World Darts Championship prize money stays at a record £5 million for the 2026/27 event at Alexandra Palace. The winner will collect £1 million. Every one of the 128 players is guaranteed at least £15,000. The tournament runs from Friday 11 December to Sunday 3 January.

The full breakdown is listed on the PDPA’s official event page. It matches the scale the PDC announced in March 2025. It is the same structure that paid Luke Littler £1 million when he beat Gian van Veen 7-1 in January’s final.

World Darts Championship prize money by round

The runner-up earns £400,000. Each beaten semi-finalist takes £200,000, and each losing quarter-finalist £100,000. The eight players beaten in the last 16 collect £60,000 each.

Further down, last-32 losers earn £35,000 and last-64 losers £25,000. The 64 players beaten in the first round each go home with £15,000. That is a big cheque for a single match.

How the £5 million is shared

The 64 first-round losers share £960,000. That is less than the winner’s prize on its own. Second-round losers share £800,000, and third-round losers £560,000.

The eight last-16 losers share £480,000. The losing quarter-finalists and the beaten semi-finalists each share £400,000. That is the same as the runner-up’s prize alone. The winner’s cheque is a fifth of the whole fund.

No other PDC event comes close. The Premier League pays £1.25 million in total, with £350,000 to its champion. The World Matchplay and the Grand Slam of Darts each offer £1 million. The Worlds fund is four times the size of the Premier League pot.

There is extra money for perfection too. The Paddy Power guide to the event lists a £60,000 bonus for a nine-dart finish.

Worlds 2026/27 payouts by finish

Finish	Players	Each	Total
Winner	1	£1,000,000	£1,000,000
Runner-up	1	£400,000	£400,000
Semi-finalists	2	£200,000	£400,000
Quarter-finalists	4	£100,000	£400,000
Last 16	8	£60,000	£480,000
Last 32	16	£35,000	£560,000
Last 64	32	£25,000	£800,000
First round	64	£15,000	£960,000
Total	128		£5,000,000

The new Great Hall and the field

This year’s event will look different. It moves into Alexandra Palace’s Great Hall for the first time. The PDC says total capacity rises to around 180,000, with sessions of more than 5,000 fans.

The schedule has changed too. Sky Sports reported that the first round starts four days earlier than in 2025. There is the usual Christmas break from 24 to 27 December. The final is on Sunday 3 January, in the Great Hall.

The field is still being settled. The top 40 on the PDC Order of Merit and the next 40 on the ProTour rankings qualify after the Players Championship Finals. They are joined by 48 international and tour qualifiers. The PDPA lists the final Tour Card holder qualifiers for 30 November.

Littler is the two-time defending champion. Phil Taylor is the only player to have won three PDC world titles in a row. Our Wesley Plaisier qualification report shows how tight the race for places is. Gary Mawson’s return at 63 shows how wide the field can be.

Follow the race on our PDC Order of Merit hub, all the latest on our World Darts Championship news page and the wider calendar on our PDC majors hub.

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