The 2027 PDC World Darts Championship, branded for sponsorship purposes the "2026/27 Paddy Power World Darts Championship", carries a total prize fund of £5,000,000, with £1,000,000 going to the winner. That figure is identical to the 2026 edition: there has been no further increase for 2027, but the fund stays at the record level set by the previous season's historic jump.
This guide breaks down the prize money round by round, tracks how the fund has evolved over recent editions, explains what it means for the PDC rankings, and gives a few concrete comparisons to put these numbers in perspective.
Total fund and the winner's cheque
The World Championship prize fund doubled between 2025 and 2026: the winner earned £500,000 in 2025, and has earned £1,000,000 since 2026. The increase, announced by the PDC on 31 March 2025 for application from the 2026 season, applied to every tier of the payout table, not just the winner's cheque. For 2027, the PDC is carrying over the same £5,000,000 total fund, so the question is no longer "how much more this year?" but "does the 2026 record level hold?", and the answer is yes.
For context, the World Matchplay (the PDC's other marquee tournament, held in Blackpool each summer) raised its total prize fund to £1,000,000 for its 2026 edition, a fifth of what the World Championship pays out over roughly three weeks in London. The World Championship remains by far the richest event on the PDC calendar.
Prize money breakdown by round
The table below reproduces the official payout grid, unchanged since 2026, which applies to all 128 players entering at the first round (there is no preliminary round and no seed receives a bye).
| Result | Players | Prize per player |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1 | £1,000,000 |
| Runner-up | 1 | £400,000 |
| Semi-finalists | 2 | £200,000 each |
| Quarter-finalists | 4 | £100,000 each |
| Fourth-round losers | 8 | £60,000 each |
| Third-round losers | 16 | £35,000 each |
| Second-round losers | 32 | £25,000 each |
| First-round losers | 64 | £15,000 each |
Even a first-round exit is worth £15,000, far from a token sum on the professional darts circuit, where the gap between the top and bottom of the PDC rankings is often decided by exactly this kind of guaranteed money.
How the fund has evolved over recent editions
| Edition | Total fund | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | N/A | £500,000 | £200,000 |
| 2026 | £5,000,000 | £1,000,000 | £400,000 |
| 2027 | £5,000,000 | £1,000,000 | £400,000 |
The 2025-to-2026 increase touched every tier of the table: semi-finalists went from £100,000 to £200,000, quarter-finalists from £50,000 to £100,000. For 2027, every line of the grid stays exactly the same as 2026 (see the breakdown above), the PDC has not announced any further increase at this stage.
One detail still needs confirming for 2027: during the 2026 edition, title sponsor Paddy Power pledged £60,000 for every nine-dart finish (a leg won using only the minimum nine darts, the maximum possible in a game of 501), split between the player, a randomly selected fan and a charity. The PDC has not yet reconfirmed this pledge for the 2026/27 edition at the time of writing.
What it means for the PDC Order of Merit
Every pound won at the World Championship feeds into the PDC Order of Merit, the official ranking of professional players, calculated on a rolling two-year window (or since a player earned their Tour Card, if that is shorter). This ranking sets seedings for every PDC event, determines direct qualification for the sport's biggest televised tournaments, and, crucially, decides automatic entry into the following World Championship: the top 40 players on the two-year Order of Merit qualify automatically for the 2027 edition, without going through any qualifying route.
The World Championship carries disproportionate weight in that ranking. Winning the title alone pays out more than most players on the circuit earn across two full years of regular Pro Tour events combined. A semi-final run (£200,000) can be enough to lift a player dozens of places. Conversely, a player knocked out in the first round two years running can see their ranking slide if that £15,000 is not made up elsewhere during the season.
How much is that, really? A few comparisons
A few sourced reference points from the PDC circuit help put these figures in perspective:
- £15,000 for a single first-round loss at the World Championship equals winning a regular Pro Tour event outright. In 2026, a Players Championship (the PDC Pro Tour's regular weekly-style events) pays its winner £15,000, out of a total fund of £150,000 for the whole field. A player beaten in round one of the World Championship earns, from a single defeat, the same amount as the top prize of an entire weekly tournament.
- The gap between the World Championship winner and runner-up (£600,000) exceeds the total prize fund of most PDC Pro Tour events. In other words, the difference between winning and losing the World final is, on its own, several times the entire payout of a Players Championship.
- Even a last-32 exit (£25,000) is worth more than winning a Pro Tour event. That shows just how much the World Championship outweighs the rest of the calendar for most players on tour, many lower-ranked professionals earn a meaningful share of their yearly income from this single tournament alone.
For more on the 2027 edition (dates, draw and broadcasting) see our full guide to the 2027 World Darts Championship, how to attend in our 2026/27 World Championship tickets guide, and for a career-long perspective, our guide to professional darts player salaries. Follow all the latest news on the PDC World Championship hub page. To find out which channel and what time to watch each session, see our TV guide to the 2027 World Championship.
