Barry Hearn reveals his X-rated response to Luke Littler catering request

Darts may be booming, but Barry Hearn reveals the sport’s biggest star is still not getting everything he wants.

Luke Littler landed the richest prize in the game’s history when he won the World Darts Championship for a second time in January, earning himself £1,000,000 at Alexandra Palace.

The Nuke’s number one world ranking – which is based on earning over a two-year period on tour – stands at just shy of £3,000,000, while his earnings off the oche have exploded since his headline-grabbing World Championship debut as a 16-year-old.

He has become a household name and is leading a wave of popularity for darts, but Hearn gave short shrift to a request from his team to improve catering on tour.

Talk turned to complaints from sports stars, with the veteran promoter saying: ‘People will always moan, it’s actually a part of sport, even the darts players, even they moan.

‘Someone said to me the other day, I won’t tell you who he was because he’s quite well known, bearing in mind he’s the current world champion.

‘He said something about criticising the food in a Premier League venue.

You know, “Can we have a chef in?” His manager, “can we have his chef in?”
‘I went, “for f*** sake, it’s a darts tournament!

What are you talking about?

Shut up and drink your lager”.’
Hearn estimated Littler’s total earnings for 2026 to be around £6m, which he says Phil Taylor, the sport’s greatest ever player, is marvelling at in his retirement.

‘I’m 78 in June.

I’m still grafting my nuts off.

But not because I want the money, although I like it.

I want to win,’ he said.

‘Winning in my world is making events bigger, making prize money bigger, even though they do still moan.

‘I don’t know what Littler is going to earn this year.

Six million?

Ain’t bad for a game of darts, is it?

Some of the old boys, people like Phil, they look at the money.

‘You know, Phil Taylor was throwing similar averages to Luke.

Better even.

But now it’s just time and place, isn’t it?

How much are you worth on a specific day?’
Littler is back in Premier League action on Thursday night in Berlin after his dramatic victory last week in Dublin, pipping Gerwyn Price 6-5 in the final after losing the first five legs.

The Nuke is now second in the table, behind Jonny Clayton, as he looks to regain the title he won in 2024 but lost last year, beaten in the final by Luke Humphries.

The winner of the Premier League this year will land £350,000, up from last year’s £275,000 top prize.