Teenaged Darts Playing Sensation Banned for Match Fixing
Teenage Darts prodigy’s career lies in tatters after the former World Darts Youth Champion is banned for match-fixing.
Leighton Bennett deliberately lost four matches in 2023. © PDC
Key Facts:
- Leighton Bennett gets an eight-year ban from Darts after being found guilty of match-fixing.
- Conspirator Billy Warriner handed a 10-year ban for his role in the scandal.
- The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) raised the alert on four suspicious matches.
- Fixed games, played in September 2023, attracted 47 online bets, yielding £12,579 in profit.
Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) Tour card holder Leighton Bennett, currently sat 29th on the PDC Development Tour’s rankings, has been banned by the Disciplinary Committee of the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) for eight years.
Initially suspended in August 2024, the 18-year-old player entered a guilty plea on ten counts when the DRA Disciplinary Committee convened in late November 2024 to consider the case of four matches that Bennett lost during a Modus Super Series event in September 2023.
A shooting star of the sport, in 2019, Bennett landed the BDO Youth Championship when only 13 years old. Making his debut at the PDC Players Championship series in 2024, he had claimed a 6-1 victory over Dave Chisnall and hit a nine-dart finish before his suspension came into place.
The Background and the Bets
On September 9, 2023, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported suspicious betting on four matches; two had been played the prior day and two on September 6. Bennett lost them all by 4-1 or 4-0 scorelines.
Yeah, he’s guilty 😂 https://t.co/r8AVUct90n pic.twitter.com/Ypcwifly3y
— Josh (@joshpearson180) August 13, 2024
Enquiries conducted by DRA investigator Steve Richardson highlighted 47 bets placed online bets – of which 30 were doubles – where £3,096 was staked with £15,484.66 returned, yielding a profit of £12,579.46..
While most of the suspicious bets were placed with online betting sites, some successful bets were placed at betting shops in Gainsborough and Retford. Bennett lives nearby in Lincoln, while a second darts player, Billy Warriner, resides in Gainsborough.
Bets tracked back to retail betting terminals show 19 bets, all singles, were also placed on the four matches with total stakes of £1,510. These resulted in an additional profit of £1,890.82. The investigation found Warriner was linked to the majority of the suspicious bets.
Gambling Addict Takes 19 Counts
Billy Warriner, a Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA) Associate member and therefore subject to DRA rules, was hit harder for his part in the conspiracy. Like Bennett, he was fined £8,100, but his ban will run until 2034.
Whereas Bennett was found guilty of 10 charges – for fixing the four matches, providing inside information on the matches, failing to assist an investigation, and signing a contract with an unregistered agent – Warriner pleaded guilty to 19 of his 21 charges.
His rap sheet included being concerned with fixing four matches, providing inside information and organising betting on the matches. He was also found guilty on four counts of failing to assist the investigation, two counts of acting as an unregistered agent and betting on Darts.
Furthermore, Warriner pleaded guilty to an unrelated incident at a Darts event where he was abusive to an official and threatened his opponent. In a late letter of admission, the 23-year-old blamed a gambling addiction for his actions and declared he offered Bennett £2,000 to lose the four matches.
“I feel really bad for it now because he was seventeen, and he’s not the cleverest of lads; I’m sure he would say that himself. I feel like I have ruined his career,” he wrote. “Leighton wasn’t sure about doing it at first; he said, do you reckon I will get caught? I said no, obviously because I needed the money.” “I think I said, do you fancy fixing a couple of matches? Eventually, he said yes, but he didn’t take a lot of persuading. I told him he was already out of the competition and couldn’t get through anyway, and he agreed to do it.”
The Penalty, the Appeal, and the Support
Announcing its penalties, the DRA stated: “Match-fixing should be regarded in the most serious light due to its potential to damage the sport of Darts.” The case of Kyle McKinstry was referenced as a guideline for its sanctions – McKinstry received a six-and-a-half-year ban for fixing two matches and a consecutive sentence of 18 months for failing to assist the investigation – in 2020.
Both players have until December 14 to appeal. One top-pro, 38-time PDC title winner James Wade, appears keen on Leighton Bennett contesting his punishment. In his Star newspaper column, the current world No.16 wrote: “With this ban, at just 18 years old, his professional darts career is effectively over.”
“He has gone from darts prodigy to losing everything based on a misguided decision. I don’t personally know Leighton, but I hope there is a duty of care in place and someone is keeping an eye on him.”
Wade added: “If he has been badly advised or left to his own devices to make these wrong decisions, then surely there should be an opportunity for rehabilitation.”
