World Darts Championship: Record prize fund for 2015 at Alexandra Palace

The 2015 William Hill World Darts Championship will feature a record £1,250,000 prize fund and be played from December 18-January 4 at Alexandra Palace in London.

The sport's biggest tournament has been boosted further this year with an increase of £200,000 to the prize fund - going up from the £1,050,000 paid out last year.

The first prize remains £250,000 for the champion, but prize money throughout the remainder of the tournament - which is televised live on Sky Sports - has been increased.

The runner-up at Alexandra Palace will take home £120,000, with the semi-finalists earning £60,000 each, the quarter-finalists taking home £35,000, the third round losers winning £18,000, the second round losers earning £12,000, the first round losers picking up £8,000 and the preliminary round losers winning £3,500.

This is fantastic news for the tournament and also for all the players who qualify to play at Alexandra Palace.

The William Hill World Championship will again feature 72 players from around the world, with 16 International Qualifiers competing in the preliminary round for the right to join the sport's top names in the first round proper.

PDC chairman Barry Hearn said: "We committed to increasing prize money across all of our major tournaments this year and the announcement of this new prize fund for the William Hill World Championship completes over £500,000 investment in the biggest televised events in darts.

Incredible growth

"This tournament has enjoyed incredible growth over the past 10 years, including our move to Alexandra Palace, and through our partnership with William Hill we can only see the event continuing to grow further."

Reigning world champion Michael van Gerwen said: "This is fantastic news for the tournament and also for all the players who qualify to play at Alexandra Palace.

"Darts has really grown over the last few years and we now have a circuit of major tournaments around the world, but the tournament that everyone targets is the World Championship.

"The news of William Hill's sponsorship and the announcement of the dates and prize money increase has made me really excited to get back to Alexandra Palace to defend my title."