Luke Littler has practically dominated the sport of darts since turning professional last year, lifting the PDC World Championship in January with a historic win over Michael van Gerwen at just 17
Dennis Priestley has tipped Luke Littler to easily surpass £10million in career earnings in the future. The 18-year-old prodigy, who turned professional in 2024, has already made waves with his PDC World Championship victory over Michael van Gerwen earlier this year.
Currently sitting second in the PDC’s Order of Merit, Littler has banked £1,300,500 from ranking tournaments alone, not accounting for additional prize money from events like Premier League Darts, World Series Finals, and the World Youth Championships. This sum also doesn’t include any of sponsorship deals that the ‘Nuke’ may have secured.
Priestley, who clinched the 1994 World Championship with a resounding 6-1 victory over Phil Taylor, is confident that Littler’s financial success will dwarf that of darts great’s. In a chat with OLBG, Priestley didn’t hold back on his praise for Littler’s recent dominance, saying: “Luke Littler and several other young players will win more prize money than Phil Taylor ever did, by a long way.
“But getting to £100million like players in other sports will be some ask. Getting to £10million will be simple for Luke if he keeps his head down with the new £1million prize money, then he can go from there.”
However, in the same breath, Priestly questioned whether Littler will come close to enjoying even a smidge of the career that Taylor did.
He added (via the Express): “I reckon there has been three or four players better than Phil in the game, but what none of them could do is dominate like he did for so long.
“Luke Littler is among those names talent wise, but dominating like Phil did for so long? I don’t think it can happen. What Phil did was incredible and we might not see that in the darts ever again.”
‘The Power’ Taylor, renowned for his unmatched record of 16 World Championships and a dazzling array of 87 major titles, additionally garnished his dynasty with multiple PDC Player of the Year commendations over three decades – an almost mythic feat yet to be bested. So it comes as little surprise that Priestley has his doubts if anyone can echo the same overwhelming supremacy.
Notwithstanding Priestley’s reservations, Littler is hailed as the rising prodigy of the sport, acclaimed for his five major title victories from seven finals, commanding the scene at the 2024 Premier League, and seizing double glory in the World Series events.
His next test comes in the form of Gerwyn Price in the semi-finals of the Premier League’s play-offs come Thursday.
Littler and Price form two of the four players who have qualified for the final night of Premier League Darts this week, with Nathan Aspinall and Luke Humphries pitted off against one another in the other semi-final.
At last year’s event, Littler took no prisoners by finishing first in the standings with four wins and two runner-up spots over the course of the season.
The youngster then handed Michael Smith a 10-5 loss in his semi-final clash, before besting World No. 1 Humphries 11-7 in the final.
With six wins this season and once more headed into the semis in pole position, Littler will hope to keep up his good run of form when the final four clash at London’s O2 on Thursday.
