[2][3] After the ban on tobacco advertising in the UK, the event was sponsored by its venue, the Lakeside Country Club, from 2004 onwards.

John Lowe, a friend of Watterson, convinced him that such an event would be easy to stage and suggested contacting Olly Croft, head of the British Darts Organisation, to run it.

[8] Ten top players (Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Leighton Rees, Rab Smith, Alan Evans, Stefan Lord, Tim Brown, Bobby Semple, Nicky Virachkul and Barry Atkinson) were invited, with the remaining places going to qualifiers.

In 1990 Singaporean (then-representing the USA) player Paul Lim hit the tournament's only 9-dart finish in the second round against Irishman Jack McKenna to win a bonus of £52,000 which was more than the eventual champion Phil Taylor received.

[citation needed] Since the BDO Championship started in 1978, there have been 21 occasions where a player has achieved a three-dart average in excess of 100 during a match.

Keith Deller was the first player to achieve an average of 100, in the quarter-final of 1985 against John Lowe, although he lost the match.

She managed a long run of 13 consecutive matches without dropping a single set, which started the semi-final of 2003 and ended in the final of 2007.

2009 saw five-time runner-up Francis Hoenselaar complete the Masters/World Championship double by beating Gulliver 2–1 in the final.

As the BBC shared coverage and commentators from 2012 until 2016, Green was also heard on ESPN and BT Sport in later years.

He only missed the event once during his 38-year career due to illness in 2011 and he was replaced by BBC Radio 5 Live's Vassos Alexander.

The rest of the commentary team has included BDO players Bobby George, Martin Adams, Trina Gulliver, Tony O'Shea and Scott Mitchell.

John Rawling, Vassos Alexander, Tony Green and George Riley provided the commentary for both broadcasters in 2015 and 2016 - Jim Proudfoot was an additional commentator in 2015.

[18] After being broadcast exclusively on the BBC in the UK for 34 years, ESPN began sharing coverage of the tournament in 2012.

Stubbs hosted alongside 2-time champion Ted Hankey who returned to the BDO in 2014 but just missed out on a qualifying spot for Lakeside 2015.

John Rawling and Vassos Alexander broadcast commentary throughout BT's four-year coverage, Jim Proudfoot covered the event in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Ray Stubbs left BT Sport for Talksport 2 during 2016, and was replaced by Matt Smith for the 2017 and 2018 events, with Chris Mason acting as their analyst.

Channel 4 signed a two-year deal to cover the 2017 and 2018 championships, sharing the event with BT Sport.

Their coverage was presented by Rob Walker, alongside PDC professional Paul Nicholson and BDO Ladies' player Deta Hedman.

Prior to the 2019 championship, the BDO secured a new 3-year deal with Eurosport with coverage being shown on both the broadcasters main subscription channel and free-to-air on Quest.

Punditry and commentary for the tournament were provided by John Rawling, Chris Mason, Paul Nicholson, Martin Adams and Tony O'Shea.