William Hill supersedes struggling Ladbrokes as the sponsor of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Championships in a two-year deal.
Ladbrokes continue to lose ground to its UK competitors as they step aside and allow William Hill to take over as the official naming partner of the PDC World Darts Championships.
Hills and the PDC have agreed a two-year deal that will see them become the sixth sponsor since the world of professional darts become divided back in 1994 – resulting in the birth of the PDC World Darts Championships.
Previous sponsors include Skol (twice), Proton Cars, Vernons, Red Band and for the past 11-years – Ladbrokes.
The popularity of darts has rocketed in recent years thanks to the great exposure given to the game by Sky Sports. In 2014, the Dutchman Michael van Gerwen recovered from his 2013 runner-up heartbreak, to finally capture the crown after defeating the Scotsman Peter Wright 7-2, in front of a TV audience comprising of over 2m Dutch, 700,000 from the UK and over half a million from Germany. The event is beamed to over 20 different countries worldwide.
The seven figure deal will see the William Hill logo slapped all over Ally-Pally (Alexandra Palace, London) when the action kicks off over the Christmas and New Year period.
This is Hills second darts sponsorship deal.
They have been the sponsors of the Grand Slam of Darts since 2011, after following in the footsteps of PartyBets.com and PartyPoker.com. The event offers a £400,000 purse with £100,000 going to the champion.
Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor has won five of the six Grand Slam of Darts competitions as well as 14 of the 21 PDC World Championships, and is why he is widely regarded as the greatest player to throw an arrow since the days of men in green tights.
