Darts

Darts Premier League 2023 Prize Money

The Premier League Darts is a lucrative tournament for the players who can earn their spots in it for the current season. Only eight players have a shot at glory each season in the Premier League Darts. The prize pot for the season is a whopping £1 million plus bonuses.

So there’s a lot of cash at stake along with the prestige of being written into the history books as a Premier League Darts champion. As we roll through the Premier League Darts fixtures for the season, we also take a look at the prize money for the tournament and how it’s organised.

Prize Money For The Premier League Darts Winner

The winner of the Premier League Darts doesn’t get the whole £1 million prize pot. But it is still a hefty sum of £275,000 that the overall season’s champion will walk away with. That is a big windfall for the player who is rewarded for successfully navigating the long season.

The runner-up at the end of the season claims £125,000 in prize money. No one in the season walks away empty-handed as the tier of prize money goes all the way down to the player who finished bottom of the table after the regular season.

  • Winner £275,00
  • Runner-up £125,000
  • Semi-finalist £85,000
  • 5th place £75,000
  • 6th place £70,000
  • 7th place £65,000
  • 8th place £60,000

Bonus Prizes

Players can boost their winnings for the season in the Premier League Darts as there are sixteen weekly bonuses up for grabs. The winner of each weekly Final will collect a £10,000 prize money bonus.

There’s no limit to how many of those weekly bonuses a single player can win. So players do have that extra incentive to play for each week, as well as earning points for the league standings to try and push through to the play-offs.

Michael van Gerwen vs Joe Culllen

How Players Qualify?

As mentioned there are only eight players in each season of the Premier League Darts. The 2022 changes made to the Premier League Darts, when it moved to a mini-bracket format for each of the Nights in the regular season, also came with a change of qualification.

The top six on the Order of Merit automatically got their spots in last season’s Premier League. They were joined by the then-reigning champion (Johnny Clayton) and the Masters champion (Joe Cullen). But things have changed for the 2023 edition.

The Top Four players on the Order of Merit automatically got their places for the 2023 Premier League Darts season. They were Michael Smith, Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price. The other four players were selected after the 2023 Masters, which was won by Chris Dobey.

That result got him an invitation to the full season for the first time. He was joined by Jonny Clayton, Nathan Aspinall and Dimitri Van den Bergh as the other four, all of which had participated in at least one previous season.

2023 Premier League Darts Players

Michael Smith – 6th Appearance
Peter Wright – 10th appearance
Michael van Gerwen – 11th appearance
Gerwyn Price – 5th appearance
Jonny Clayton – 3rd appearance
Nathan Aspinall – 3rd appearance
Dimitri Van den Bergh – 2nd appearance
Chris Dobey – 1st appearance*

*Dobey had participated twice as a Challenger in the 2019 and 2020 Premier League Darts when nine regular league players were joined by a guest ‘Challenger’ player each week.

Who Will Be Crowned 2023 Premier League Darts Champion?

Michael van Gerwen claimed his sixth Premier League title last year with a tight victory over the reigning Masters champion Joe Cullen. It was a great match, with MVG winning 11-10 in the final against the Premier League debutant.

It wasn’t totally cut and dry for MVG however, as Cullen missed a title-winning shot at double tops. But it was to be Van Gerwen’s night, equalling the title record held by the great Phil Taylor.

These odds from Ladbrokes were correct at the time of writing.

In 2023 Premier League Darts betting, Michael van Gerwen is the clear favourite. The Dutchman had been a 9/4 pre-tournament favourite. But a couple of early victories, winning two of the first five Nights of the season, saw that price trimmed.

After his barren spells through large parts of 2020 and then 2021, 2022 saw a return to top form by Van Gerwen and he’s the one to beat this term.

Despite almost 20 years of Premier League Darts history, there have only been seven different champions crowned. Between them, Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have won 12 of the previous 18 editions of the league.

Premier League Darts Winners

Phil Taylor – 6
Michael van Gerwen – 6
Gary Anderson – 2
James Wade – 1
Raymond van Barneveld – 1
Glen Durrant – 1
Jonny Clayton – 1

Premier League Darts History

The inaugural season of the Premier League Darts was in 2005 which had a total prize fund of £140,000. Winner Phil Taylor collected the top prize of £50,000 for beating Colin Lloyd in the final. With the 2023 edition up at a £1 million prize pot, times have certainly changed.

The prize fund has gone through steady incremental rises, reaching that £1 million number for the first time in 2022. The winner claims more than a quarter of that prize pot, almost double what the entire prize pot was for that inaugural 2005 edition.

The popularity of the Premier League Darts has helped inject money into it. Big broadcasting rights from Sky Television for example, as well as sponsorship deals, have kept the league thriving. The tournament format has also changed through the years to stay fresh and engaging.

Different numbers of players have been used in seasons as well as campaigns previously being split by “Judgement Night” when the bottom two were relegated before the season continued.

Only three players in the history of the Premier League Darts have managed to win the title outright in the season that they topped the regular season standings. Those were Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and most recently, Glen Durrant in 2020.


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About the author

Lee Jackson

Lee has been a freelance sports writer for over a decade and is a massive sports fan, following Chelsea in the Premier League and Gloucester in Premiership Rugby. Few sports events get him more excited than Ashes cricket, however.

Lee has followed darts since the good old days of Eric Bristow and John Lowe producing highlight moments at the World Championships on dark winter nights.