LUKE LITTLER is eyeing the biggest jackpot of his short career tonight – but won’t be taking it all home.
The 17-year-old is preparing to take on Michael van Gerwen at Ally Pally for the PDC world title.
Littler lost 7-4 to Luke Humphries in last year’s final after a fairytale World Championship run.
A year on, he entered the 2025 tournament as favourite and has so far lived up to the billing.
Players at the Palace are duking it out for a huge prize pot totalling £2.5million.
Should Littler lift the Sid Waddell Trophy on Friday night, he will also receive a cheque for £500,000.
It would represent the biggest win of the teenager’s short career.
Unfortunately for The Nuke, he won’t be seeing almost half of that cash.
HMRC laws mean he will have to forfeit a whopping £223,213 in tax, as well as £12,010 in National Insurance, according to The Daily Mail.
In total, he will lose just under £235,000 from his prize money and instead take home 53 per cent of the initial jackpot.
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Littler took the darts world by storm in 2024 after his surprise run to the PDC final.
Prior to his heroics at the Palace, the Warrington-born star had earned just £2,500.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Luke Littler aiming for history in world darts final against Michael van Gerwen ” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6366646378112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]He pocketed £200,000 for finishing as runner-up to Humphries, the current World No.1.
Since then, Littler has gone on to win 10 PDC titles and pocketed just north of £1million last year.
He won the Darts Premier League on his debut appearance, landing £275,000 in the process.
To date, that remains his biggest individual payday at the oche.
But that could all change on Friday as he faces three-time champ MVG.
A confident Littler said: “I have gained loads of experience over the last year.
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“Michael has been in numerous finals – this is only my second, but I know where I went wrong last year, and I’m sure I will fix it.
“It would mean everything to lift this title, but my only focus right now is winning seven sets tomorrow night.
“I felt very confident tonight. The best I felt was against Nathan [Aspinall] in the quarter-finals, but I’m just glad I’m playing with such belief.”