Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen are in agreement about the punishment handed to Leighton Bennett over a betting scandal. The 18-year-old former darts prodigy, who was once dubbed ‘the next Phil Taylor’, has been slapped with an eight-year ban from the game after being found guilty of 10 counts of match fixing.
Bennett was suspended back in August when suspicious betting patterns were detected in a handful of his matches during the Modus Super Series back in September 2023. It was heard that offences took place in four matches involving the teenager, who has also been found guilty of providing inside information about games, failing to assist in an investigation, and signing a contract with an unregistered manager.
Following news of Bennett’s ban, Van Gerwen said he agreed with the severity of the punishment and thought it would benefit darts moving forward. “I completely agree. I’m not shocked by it, I think it’s totally justified,” the 35-year-old told Dutch outlet Sportnieuws.
“I think more things happened after that that couldn’t go through. That it added up and they want to deal with this rock hard. How can they do that? By punishing rock hard. This sets an example.”
World No.1 Humphries, 29, is on the same page and admitted he was pleased that match-fixing was being dealt with very strictly. “Silly, silly boy. We want to ban that kind of thing from the sport. This shouldn’t even occur to you to do,” he said.
“If you also deny it and are found guilty, then you have to live with the harshest measures. Hopefully this will keep all match-fixing players away. Integrity is important in our sport.”
Elsewhere, five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld also said he fully agreed with the decision. “A tough, but right punishment,” the Dutch legend said.
“I quite understand that when you’re eighteen you can sometimes be rather thoughtless. But if you let yourself be so easily persuaded to give away games, there have been so many warnings that this would be dealt with harshly. Maybe the punishment should have been life in prison. That would totally shock the dart world. Then everyone would think. It’s not right, it shouldn’t be and it can’t be justified.”
Some, however, felt the decision was too harsh. Speaking to The Daily Star, four-time World Darts Championship semi-finalist James Wade said: “Now, I don’t know all the details but Leighton has been found guilty and he should be punished. However, I just think the eight-year ban is harsh.
“With this ban at just 18-years-old, his professional darts career is effectively over. He has gone from darts prodigy to losing everything based on a misguided decision. I don’t personally know Leighton, but I hope there is a duty of care in place and someone is keeping an eye on him.”
Lincoln-born Bennett was once considered the future of British darts. ‘Boom boom’, as he’s known at the oche, turned plenty of heads by beating Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor at an event in Frankfurt when he was just 13-years-old in 2019 – the same year he became the youngest-ever BDO youth champion, but has since struggled to live up to expectations.
He earned a PDC Tour Card earlier this year and vowed to rival teenaged sensation Luke Littler, but his ban has thrown a spanner in the works. Together with fellow pro Billy Warriner, who has been banned for 10 years after admitting to 19 of the 21 charges against him, Bennett has been ordered to pay £8,100 in costs. The pair have until December 14 to appeal the result.
