Paddy Power donates £1m to Prostate Cancer UK after most-viewed darts final

After Paddy Power pledged £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180 thrown at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championships, the operator has revealed its final donation. 

Although a total of 914 180s were hit, the Irish bookmaker is generously rounding the figure up to whopping £1m.

Prostate Cancer UK CEO, Laura Kerby, commented: “A massive thanks to Paddy Power for driving forward this campaign, for the PDC and of course those players for peppering the treble 20 bed.”

The 2024 Ally Pally saw a huge spike in viewership as 16-year-old Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler from Runcorn made his way through to the final, becoming the youngest player of all time to make it that far in the competition – whilst bringing a raft of new viewers to the sport.

“It’s been essential viewing from start to finish, and has almost certainly saved men’s lives too,” Kerby added.

Luke Humpries – tournament winner and the new World Number 1 – hit a total of 73 180’s throughout the three-week competition, which raised £73,000 alone and also saw him pick up the gambling company’s new Ballon d’Art trophy.

Shortly behind was runner up Littler who hit 63 180s during his World Championship debut, followed by current Masters champion Chris Dobey with 43.

Last night’s final was a win for main sponsor Paddy Power as it became Sky Sports‘ most-watched non-football event in history, with a total of 3.75m viewers tuning in to watch Humphries’ 7-4 victory.

On the charitable initiative, Gary Anderson – who this year fell short of making it to the quarter finals after losing 3-4 to Brendan Dolan – said: “The more out there it is, the more people hear it and the more people who might do something about it.

“There shouldn’t be any embarrassment, it’s like with everything, you’ve got to help yourself out. There’s so many things going about now you’ve just got to look after yourself and if not yourself then your brothers, your dad, uncles, grandads. The more it’s put out there the more people will listen.”

The bookmaker spread awareness of its campaign through a hoax where it claimed the treble 20 was turning green for the event – a move which sparked much controversy.

Rachael Kane, spokesperson for Paddy Power, told SBC News: “We have just confirmed we will be rounding our donation to Prostate Cancer UK up to £1m following last night’s record-breaking final. ‘The Luke’s’ helped smash the previous record of 901 180s and between the the players hit 914 maximums.

“We pledged to donate £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180 struck during the tournament, so rounding it up felt like the right thing to do following an absolutely epic start to our Paddy Power World Darts Championship sponsorship.”