The 2008 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship was the 31st World Championship and was held between 5–13 January.
Martin Adams attempted to defend the title that he won at the 14th attempt in 2007 but he lost in the semi-finals to world number one Mark Webster. Webster won the World Championship, beating Australia’s Simon Whitlock 7–5 in the final.
Scotland’s Gary Anderson was seeded number two for this tournament and after a year in which he had won the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy was the hot favourite to win. Yet for the fourth time in five years he lost first round, this time to Dutchman Fabian Roosenbrand.
Michael van Gerwen, Mervyn King, Jelle Klaasen and Vincent van der Voort had all joined the PDC in the previous year giving chances to new players to come through.