PLAYER earning power has soared in recent years. Gone are the days of the top players, or even the second rank, having to scratch around to supplement their darts earnings in order to pay the bills or even to carry on playing.
Today players in the PDC top 32 are winning over £50k a year. Add in a few exhibitions, and good sponsorship deals and very healthy living can be earned without claiming multiple titles or shining on the TV.
Premium Dart Data (@premiumdartdata) recently pointed out that six players have earned over £1,000,000 from just 6 PDC major events (WC, WM, WGP, Open, GSoD & PCFs) :
- Phil Taylor – £4,434,000
- MVG – £3,539,500
- G Anderson – £1,959,740
- Adrian Lewis – £1,567,250
- J Wade – £1,525,750
- Raymond Van Barneveld – £1,395,750
Looking a little further and we see these guys are not the only ones to have claimed £million + in prize money. Counting 1975 as a decent starting point, and going right up to the present day, almost twenty players have claimed at least 1,000,000 during their career:
Thanks to dartsdatabase.co.uk
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Phil Taylor | England | £7,634,754 |
| 2 | Michael van Gerwen | Netherlands | £7,426,167 |
| 3 | Gary Anderson | Scotland | £3,850,772 |
| 4 | Raymond van Barneveld | Netherlands | £3,452,378 |
| 5 | James Wade | England | £3,232,143 |
| 6 | Adrian Lewis | England | £2,982,634 |
| 7 | Peter Wright | Scotland | £2,527,638 |
| 8 | Simon Whitlock | Australia | £1,998,249 |
| 9 | Dave Chisnall | England | £1,711,665 |
| 10 | Mervyn King | England | £1,620,858 |
| 11 | Michael Smith | England | £1,437,685 |
| 12 | Terry Jenkins | England | £1,348,883 |
| 13 | Robert Thornton | Scotland | £1,294,126 |
| 14 | Mensur Suljovic | Austria | £1,219,367 |
| 15 | Rob Cross | England | £1,188,600 |
| 16 | Daryl Gurney | Northern Ireland | £1,090,450 |
| 17 | Andy Hamilton | England | £1,078,794 |
| 18 | Ian White | England | £1,034,058 |
| 19 | Steve Beaton | England | £1,008,055 |
It is remarkable that MVG will pass Taylor’s career prize money within the next twelve months. As well as showing Micheal’s remarkable talent it also shows how the earning power has increased in the last few years.
Perhaps the most noteworthy contrast in the table is both Daryl Gurney and Rob Cross earning over £1million in a very few years. Peter Wright has also surged in recent years and is likely to go further.
Meanwhile, Steve Beaton has just reached the million mark after a career spanning a mere 35 years!
——-ENDS——
A version of this piece first appeared in Darts World Magazine in June 2019. http://www.dartsworld.com
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Images: PDC
