British Darts Organisation

The BDO set the rules which govern the game of darts, including setting the distance of the throwing oche (2.37m / 7 ft 9 ¼ inches) and the height and dimensions of the board. The BDO organised the first World Professional Darts Championship in 1978, known for 26 years as The Embassy due to its sponsorship by Imperial Tobacco until 2003. It was then known from 2004–2019 as the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship, or Lakeside for short. In 2019, before the tournament moved to the O2 Arena in 2020, the tournament was derecognised by the World Darts Federation.

After the World Championship began, televised darts became more prevalent with many major tournaments appearing on ITV and BBC. But by 1984, darts had lost many of its sponsors and only the World Championship remained on television. Some players became frustrated by the lack of opportunity to make a living professionally.

A group of 19 players (including all previous World Champions who were still active in the game) created the World Darts Council (WDC), later the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) towards the end of 1990. They wanted more tournaments to be staged and to appoint a PR consultant to improve the image of the game.

The 1993 Embassy World Championship was the last unified world darts championship. On 7 January 1993, the rebel players issued a joint statement affirming that they would only compete in the 1994 tournament if it was held under the auspices of the WDC. The BDO responded by banning the rebel players from all BDO tournaments. After a long legal battle, the BDO was forced to acknowledge the WDC's legitimacy and the right of players to choose which body they competed for. In return the WDC dropped its claim to being the sport's governing body and renamed itself the Professional Darts Corporation.

Since there have been two World Championships from 1994 onwards, there have been calls for head-to-head matches between the two Winners. There have been two head-to-head matches between the reigning champions of the two organisations. The challenge matches, held in 1999 and 2004, were officially recognised as undisputed championship matches. In their respective matches, the incumbent BDO champions Raymond van Barneveld and Andy Fordham were defeated by the PDC champion Phil Taylor.

The BDO board have continued to support players from the grassroots of the game since the "split", although there have been several high-profile players who have made a name within the organisation only to later join the PDC.

Raymond van Barneveld's career in the BDO helped boost the popularity of the sport in his home country, the Netherlands. Dutch broadcaster SBS6 has broadcast the World Championship since 1998, and used to show two major BDO tournaments, the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy. Both no longer exist. However, the popularity of the sport has possibly contributed to the Netherlands making more star players, including the 2006 BDO World Champion, Jelle Klaasen, and the 2006 World Masters Champion, Michael van Gerwen.

Due to the greater prize money available on the PDC tour, a growing number of BDO players have "defected" to the PDC. Four-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld was the highest profile switch, doing so in 2006. John Part (1997), Richie Burnett (2000), Steve Beaton (2001), Jelle Klaasen (2007), Mark Webster (2009), Ted Hankey (2012), Les Wallace (2013), Christian Kist (2014), Stephen Bunting (2014) and Glen Durrant (2019) are the other past BDO champions who subsequently switched to the PDC.

BDO number 1 Robert Thornton decided to move to the PDC in May 2008. 2006 Winmau World Masters winner Michael van Gerwen switched without defending his title. Long time BDO player Mervyn King (who once claimed he would never play for the PDC) followed suit a month later. Gary Anderson and Webster were the top two ranked players when they signed with the PDC in January 2009. 2008 Lakeside runner-up Simon Whitlock also signed with the PDC in 2009.

Very few players have moved the other way. 2004 Lakeside champion Andy Fordham moved to the PDC in 2009 and returned to the BDO in 2013. Three time BDO women's champion Anastasia Dobromyslova switched to the PDC in 2008, before returning in 2011. Ted Hankey, after switching to the PDC in 2012, returned to the BDO in 2014. Of recent though Andy Hamilton and Wes Newton began playing in BDO events at the start of 2018 after losing their PDC tour cards and both qualified for the 2019 BDO world championship.

Prior to the 2011 Annual General Meeting of the BDO, many players and officials within the organisation had expressed increasing degrees of dissatisfaction with the performance of the existing Board of Directors. Particular areas of concern were the BDO's apparent stagnation in terms of creating new televised events and gaining new sponsors. An open letter was circulated to the various counties within the BDO structure, setting out the perceived issues,[2] although the said letter was vague as to actual suggestions for improvement. Matters culminated at the subsequent AGM, where all but one of the incumbent Board were voted out of office (other than Dave Alderman who had already resigned), with only Vic Sexton retaining his seat.

There were a number of problems at the 2019 World Masters. Several seeded players opted not to participate in the event in protest at a change to qualifying criteria.[3] Other players who did attend found they were unregistered, having been unaware of a new rule which required them to register in advance online. Due to the confusion, officials announced that there would be a redraw, which included fake names, apparently so they could be substituted if more real players arrived. Players were also not informed of the event's prize money in advance.[4]

Due to the issues at the World Masters, the World Darts Federation subsequently released a statement announcing that the BDO was to be demoted to "associate member" status and the WDF would no longer recognise BDO-organised tournaments. They cited the recent "breach of rules" and "draw changes during their competition", adding "we cannot be a part of or support such activities."[5]

On 30 December 2019, five days before the start of the 2020 BDO World Championship, BDO chairman Des Jacklin announced that the prize money for the upcoming event would have to be "reduced somewhat", although the BDO did not confirm what the new prize fund would be. He cited the failure to secure a sponsor for the event, and the fact that only 15% of tickets had been sold.[6] The reduction in the prize fund and the failure to confirm the reduced amounts that players would receive was criticised by a number of players.[7][8] In protest at the reduced prize money on offer, Fallon Sherrock, runner-up in the 2015 women's event, confirmed that she would be withdrawing from the competition.[9] Ultimately, champion Wayne Warren received £23,000, a 77% reduction on the previous year's prize money and the lowest amount received by a winner of the tournament since 1989.[10] In September 2020, the company went into liquidation bringing an end to 47 years of history.[11]

BDO Events Ltd was the commercial arm of the BDO (British Darts Organisation) and was set up in 2013.[12] The annual BDO Major events comprised the following British televised events:

• World Darts Federation
• World Professional Darts Championship
• Darts tournaments – previous winners, history and information.
• Darts players Profiles of players – past and present.
• Televised darts Brief history of television coverage.
• List of darts players

• Official site of the British Darts Organisation
• Official site of BDO Events Ltd
• Official site of the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship
• Official site of the World Darts Federation
• An article about the formation of the BDO
• BDO Players Forum