Mervyn King will make an emotional return to darts’ biggest stage just months after being declared bankrupt. King, 59, who faces fellow veteran Ian White in the first round of the PDC World Championship on Friday, was one of the sport’s biggest names in the 2000s.
He lost in two BDO World Championship finals and won the 2004 World Masters. After switching to the PDC, he reached the semi-finals of both the World Championship and the World Matchplay before slipping down the rankings and falling on hard times. During the pandemic, he took on a job as an Amazon delivery driver to help make ends meet. King, who lost his PDC Tour card 12 months ago, was then hit with a tax bill of more than £500,000 and he was declared insolvent at the High Court of Justice in London earlier this year.
The financial predicament left King and his wife, Tracey, fearing they would lose their home. He told The Sun at the time: “Tracey is worried that we’re going to lose the house. But if we do, we do. There’s nothing I can do about that.
“It’s all down to the official receiver and what he wants to do. I’ll have to deal with him fairly and honestly. So anything he wants to know, he can have. I made the move to contact them. I knew this was coming.
“It was better than them finding me and saying, ‘Excuse us Mr King, why haven’t you paid tax for 20 years?’ Because I think I’d have been straight inside.
“Now it’s all going to be cleared one way or another – whether I lose everything and the house goes. If it does, then at least it’s back to square one and I’ll start again.”
‘The King’ is set for a welcome financial boost after qualifying for the World Championship for the first time in three years. He earned his spot after finishing fourth on the second-tier Challenge Tour.
Following the huge increase in prize money for the 2025/26 tournament, first-round losers will pocket £15,000. If King can defeat White, he will bank at least £25,000.
He now wants to help other players avoid the tax-related mistakes he made. King said: “It’s trying to help others so they don’t end up in this position. It’s not a place to be, trust me. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.
“I want to hopefully try to help any up-and-coming youngsters so they don’t end up in the same predicament as I did. If I can help one youngster, then it’s worth doing.
“My message is: Don’t do what I did. Don’t hide your head in the sand when you realise you’re in a bit of a slump with HMRC. For want of a better word, I was quite naive when it came to tax. Believe it or not, I actually thought with it being winnings, I didn’t have to pay tax on it, because it wasn’t earnings as such.”
