Paddy Power has pledged to cover the travel costs of new crowd favourite Rashad Sweeting after he broke darting convention to hit a 180 during the first round of the PDC Darts World Championship.

Sweeting, who is the first player to represent the Bahamas at the tournament, was sat on 194 when he chose to go for a 180 after hitting treble 20 with his first two darts. Usually, in the same scenario, players would aim for treble 18 to leave the more fancied double ten rather than a trickier double seven.

His choice, which delighted the rapturous Alexandra Palace Crowd, also netted Prostate Cancer UK extra money as Paddy Power has committed to donating £1,000 for each maximum thrown in the tournament as part of its Bigger 180 campaign.

Rashad Sweeting could’ve played it sensible but he went for the 180 instead🎯

So, as thanks for being a legend and triggering another £1,000 donation from us to @prostateuk, we’re making the one-off pledge to pay his travel costs to and from the Bahamas.

Fair play Rashad. pic.twitter.com/QjDdzCfKQ8

— Paddy Power (@paddypower) December 18, 2024

Posting on X, the brand stated: “Rashad Sweeting could’ve played it sensible but he went for the 180 instead.

“So, as thanks for being a legend and triggering another £1,000 donation from us to Prostate Cancer UK, we’re making the one-off pledge to pay his travel costs to and from the Bahamas.”

Sweeting, who was leading by a set at the time, went on to lose the leg and subsequently the match 3-1 to Swede Jeffrey de Graaf.

Despite the loss, Sweeting cemented himself as a crowd favourite because of his on-stage personality and surprise performance. He celebrated the 180 with a ‘Cold’ celebration, made popular by Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, and later revealed it was due to a message he received on social media prior to the match.

Rashad Sweeting you are my hero 🐐🎯#Darts #WorldChampionships pic.twitter.com/7kvKNoKdlS

— Reece Clifford (@ReeceClifford99) December 17, 2024

Paddy Power go bigger in 2024

Alongside donating £1,000 for every 180 thrown, ahead of this year’s tournament Paddy Power, title sponsor of the PDC Darts World Championship, announced that it will payout an extra £180,000 for any nine-dart finishes during the event.

This will be split evenly between the player who achieves perfection, a fan in the ‘ally-pally’ crowd and Prostate Cancer UK.

To launch the Bigger 180 campaign, the tournament’s title sponsors also released a video across its social media channels featuring World Championship competitor Stephen Bunting.

🎯 The BIGGER 180 🎯

We donated £1MILLION to @ProstateUK last year. Now we're going even bigger!

We're putting up £180k for EVERY 9-darter – shared between player, a fan in crowd & @ProstateUK.

And STILL donating £1k for every 180!@OfficialPDC | @SkySports | 18+ GambleAware pic.twitter.com/VRLVL7FPSv

— Paddy Power (@paddypower) November 25, 2024