In a sport still reeling from recent match-fixing scandals, Dutch star Gian van Veen has delivered a stark warning about the financial pressures that are pushing the game to its breaking point, alleging that the cost of competing has become so prohibitive that it’s creating a breeding ground for corruption.
A System Under Pressure
Speaking about the immense weight of expectation that nearly ended his career, Van Veen highlighted how the financial burden of the professional circuit can break a player long before they reach the oche. He explained that the anxiety over travel and entry costs once crippled his game to the point where he couldn’t even release his darts—a condition known as dartitis .
“Ondertussen voelde het alsof ik dat geld van mijn ouders vergooide, omdat ik telkens met nul euro thuiskwam,” he recalled of his early days, revealing that the fear of wasting money on tournaments with no return caused him to play for his parents, not himself . “I played for my parents, not for myself. After misses I thought: there goes their money again.”
The Cost of Competition
The financial reality on the tour is brutal. Players face substantial costs for travel, accommodation, and entry fees, and even a first-round loser at a major event like the Australian Darts Masters takes home just £1,750—barely covering the expenses for international travel .
Van Veen’s own rise to the top ten was nearly derailed by this pressure. His parents financed his early career, and when he failed to win prize money at six consecutive tournaments, he considered quitting to stay an amateur . He has since taken the radical step of taking out a low mortgage with his partner to ensure he doesn’t have to win to survive, a move designed to banish performance pressure .
A Legacy of Corruption
The concern is that this financial desperation creates an environment ripe for exploitation. Van Veen’s whistleblowing comes as the sport grapples with a shocking series of corruption cases:
· Match-Fixing: Veteran Andy Jenkins was banned for 11 years after being found guilty of fixing 12 matches .
· Juvenile Fixing: Young prospects Leighton Bennett and Billy Warriner received bans of 8 and 10 years respectively for fixing matches on the Modus Super Series . Warriner was also found guilty of betting on the matches he fixed .
· Doping: Dom Taylor was stripped of his £25,000 World Championship prize money and his Tour Card after a positive test for cocaine and cannabis .
The Human Cost of Suspicion
Van Veen knows firsthand the danger of false accusations. During a Challenge Tour match, an opponent accused him of cheating because his dartitis caused him to play too slowly . The Dutchman, now a World Championship finalist, admitted: “I was in tears, crying my eyes out in the middle of Barnsley Metrodome because I was struggling so badly. And for my opponent to tell me I was cheating or something — it was heartbreaking” .
A Stark Warning
As the prize money at the top level balloons—with the World Champion now taking home £1 million—the gap between the elite and the rest widens . The PDC and Darts Regulation Authority are cracking down, but Van Veen’s testimony suggests that as long as players are forced to “pay to win,” the temptation to fix matches will remain a dark shadow over the sport.