The 44-year-old Scot beat 16-time world champion Phil Taylor 7-6 in a thrilling final in January.
Taylor will play Japan's Keita Ono or Filipino Alex Tagarao in the first round, while world number one Michael van Gerwen has been drawn against Thanawat Gaweenuntawong or Rene Eidams.
A field of 72 players will compete for £1.5m in prize money from 17 December.
Boulton, ranked 73 in the world, was runner-up in Monday's PDPA Qualifier in Coventry meaning he will face Laursen in the preliminary round at Alexandra Palace.
Ricky Evans, who beat Boulton in the final at the Ricoh Arena, goes straight into the first round to play Australian Simon Whitlock.
Paul Lim, the first player to hit a nine-dart finish in the BDO World Championships - in 1990, will play Russia's Aleksandr Oreshkin in the preliminary round with the winner facing Mervyn King.
Elsewhere, five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld meets fellow Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode, world number four Peter Wright will play former world youth champion Keegan Brown and Adrian Lewis, champion in 2011 and 2012, will take on Jan Dekker.
The final takes place on 3 January.
First-round draw in full:
Wes Newton v Cristo Reyes
John Henderson v Darren Webster
Mervyn King v Aleksandr Oreshkin/Paul Lim
Peter Wright v Keegan Brown
Vincent van der Voort v Loz Ryder
Kevin Painter v Kim Viljanen/Sven Groen
James Wade v Warrick Scheffer/John Michael
Stephen Bunting v Jyhan Artut
Robert Thornton v Alan Norris
Mark Webster v Qiang Sun/Mick McGowan
Jamie Caven v Michael Rasztovits/Rob Szabo
Gary Anderson v Andy Boulton/Per Laursen
Benito van de Pas v Max Hopp
Jelle Klaasen v Joe Cullen
Jamie Lewis v Daryl Gurney
Ian White v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Phil Taylor v Keita Ono/Alex Taragao
Simon Whitlock v Ricky Evans
Dave Chisnall v Rowby-John Rodriguez
Brendan Dolan v Kyle Anderson
Justin Pipe v Christian Kist
Michael Smith v Jeffrey De Zwaan
Adrian Lewis v Jan Dekker
Michael van Gerwen v Thanawat Gaweenuntawong/Rene Eidams
Raymond van Barneveld v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Kim Huybrechts v David Pallett
Dean Winstanley v Ronny Huybrechts
Steve Beaton v Koha Kokiri
Andrew Gilding v Gerwyn Price
Terry Jenkins v Darin Young
Mensur Suljovic v Jermaine Wattimena
Andy Hamilton v Joe Murnan

Bana Alabed shared a short video of herself and the Mean Girls star.
They were in Ankara, Turkey, where they met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ms Lohan, who has been in the country for the past few days, says in the video that the pair are "sending lots of love and life and blessings" to refugees and people in Syria.
The short clip shows Bana hugging the actress, who tells the camera: "We want to send to all of the people in Syria and Aleppo suffering and to all the refugees we are here supporting you and you can hang on and be strong just like Bana has."
She adds "inshallah", which means "if God wills" in Arabic.
Bana rose to fame after documenting on Twitter her daily life in rebel-held East Aleppo, with the help of her mother.
The seven-year-old recently penned an open letter to new US President Donald Trump, asking him to open the country to refugees.
Ms Lohan became a film star aged 11 when she starred in Disney's The Parent Trap, but her career has been marred in recent years by a series of scandals.
Rumours began circulating this week the actress may have converted to Islam, after she was spotted in Turkey wearing a hijab.
The actress also appears to have deleted all of her posts on Twitter and Instagram, changing her bio on the latter to read "alaikum salam", which means "peace be upon you" in Arabic.
PDC world champion Gary Anderson will start the defence of his title against Denmark's Per Laursen or Andy Boulton.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
The little girl who captured the world's heart tweeting about her life in East Aleppo has made a new friend - US actress Lindsay Lohan.