Luke Littler is set to compete at the PDC World Darts Championship (Image: Morgan Harlow/Getty Images)
Luke Littler has taken the darts world by storm but the teenage sensation is not the fans’ favourite to win the PDC World Darts Championship. Littler quickly became a household name with his surprise run to the final a year ago – and the 17-year-old will hope to go one step further at Alexandra Palace this time.
Proving that it was far from a one-off, in 2024, including the Grand Slam, World Series, and . All eyes will be on the Ally Pally on Saturday as bookies favourite begins his campaign against Ryan Meikle.
The throughout the year and the youngster has consistently produced world-class performances. However, fans are backing away from the idea of Littler becoming world champion in favour of other popular stars.
Data from Ladbrokes shows that reigning champion Luke Humphries has been the most popular bet to retain his title, backed by 14.3 per cent of punters. Humphries is priced at 3/1, fresh from his Players Championship triumph, which added to his World Matchplay and World Cup of Darts victories this year.
In stark contrast, Littler is valued at slightly shorter odds (15/8) than Humphries but has received less than half the number of outright bets. Only 7.1 per cent of bets placed have backed Littler, placing him a surprising fifth on the popularity table also behind Michael Smith (13.1%), Michael van Gerwen (9.8%) and Gary Anderson (8.7%).
“Luke away now, Littler fans. Despite being the tournament favourite, punters don’t fancy The Nuke to claim his first World Darts Championship,” Cal Gildart of Ladbrokes said: “Luke Humphries has got the better of Littler in their past three contests, and with three other world champions ahead of him in the popularity stakes, it looks like punters are backing pedigree over potential at the onset of this year’s championship.”
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries faced each other in the World Championship final (Image: Getty)
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There have already been some major upsets at Ally Pally. Former world champion Smith was defeated by Kevin Doets in their second round clash on Thursday. Meanwhile, Belgium’s Mike De Decker, who received 4.6 per cent of bets, ranking him sixth behind Littler, was eliminated by Luke Woodhouse earlier this week.
Littler will hope to avoid the same fate as those other fan favourites as he prepares to face Meikle. However, the 17-year-old is seemingly keeping a balanced head.
“We’ll just see how it goes, obviously you can only beat what’s in front of you so you’ve just got to look at your next opponent in the Worlds,” he told Sky Sports. “It will be one game before the Christmas break so be fully focused for that, have Christmas off and then we’ll travel back down hopefully another long December, start of January in London.”