Darts star Luke Littler is poised to make “multi-millions” despite his championship loss last week, an expert has predicted.
The 16-year-old prodigy is the youngest player in WDF history to clinch a World Darts Championship match and placed second in the global contest on Wednesday, January 3.
While he came second to Luke Humphries, the youngster has proclaimed himself “bigger than the winner”, and darts fans are eagerly watching where his career will take him next.
Commentators have predicted he will continue to dominate the darts scene, with sports broadcaster Mike Parry declaring him the “most interesting 16-year-old in the world”.
His fame, which has helped draw millions of new darts fans, will likely place him among the sporting world’s top earners, he predicted.
Mr Parry was bursting with praise for the youngster this week during an appearance on GB News.
He said the number of darts viewers “multiplied by a factor of four” during his finals appearance and that he appeared a “balanced” young man.
Mr Parry said: “I think this boy is so balanced, and the way he has spoken, both in the run-up to the final and the aftermath of the final…I don’t see him falling and crashing and burning – I see him going forward.”
When asked by presenter Mark Dolan how much money the teen stands to make, Mr Parry predicted “millions, multi-millions”.
The broadcaster likely isn’t far off the mark, as the young darts player has likely already earned hundreds of thousands of pounds from his championship appearance.
As a championship runner-up, he won approximately £200,000 last week, less than half the £500,000 top prize, but still more money in one day than might be seen by top Premier League football players.
He will also have earned money from his previous victories, with another £50,000 from reaching the quarter-finals alone.
But unlike his fellow athletes, he doesn’t plan to spend that sum on anything particularly flashy.
After the competition closed last week, he told TalkSport he already has his sights set on trips to theme parks and driving lessons.
He told the broadcaster: “All my friends are watching at home. We’ve always said we need to go Blackpool or Alton Towers, so I think they will be looking at me like ‘you’re paying Luke’, and I’ll be like “yeah, OK!”‘
