Enjoy Betting On Darts Games

Darts is a sport many people will have played themselves before diving into the exciting world of darts betting.

Dart boards can be found in pubs and bars across the United Kingdom, and the pastime of watching darts on TV has really taken off over the past 20 years. More and more people are betting on darts and that’s no surprise if you look at the increased entertainment factor fans get from following ‘the arrows’.

We will show you how best to bet on darts, as well as introduce you to the biggest tournaments and legends of the game.

Darts Betting Bonanza

Darts has boomed as a sport in recent years, with prize money growing and big TV audiences tuning in for the major tournaments.

The PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) and a pool of colourful, talented, international players have significantly boosted the profile of the game in the UK, Europe and beyond. There are huge, raucous crowds of thousands of fans in attendance at tournaments, with massive prizes on offer and big support for the best players.

Before 1993 darts was organised by the BDO (British Darts Organisation), but the PDC set up a separate franchise and has been very successful in attracting top talent. The BDO continues, with less high profile names, but players can choose to compete in either BDO or PDC events. The Grand Slam of Darts, held annually in Wolverhampton in November, is a PDC run tournament to which the best players from the BDO are invited to play.

It’s easy to get caught up in the atmosphere if you are watching darts live. However, if you’re serious about implementing a profitable strategy when it comes to betting on darts there are a few key points to bear in mind.

Keeping a cool head, thinking long term and placing your bets on darts in calm, pragmatic manner is the best way of having a chance of making a profit. Having a wager via the websites or apps of bookmakers is a great way to evaluate the odds on a number of darts betting markets and place a smart bet accordingly.

Basic Rules of Darts

Players both start with a score of 501 and the first player to reach 0 wins the leg, to reach 0 you must finish on a double. For example, if you had 40 left, you would need to finish on double 20.

The centre of the dart board known as the bulls-eye should be 5ft 8inch (1.73m) from the floor. The darts are thrown from a clear marked and raise line referred to as the oche, which is 7ft 9 & ¼ from the bullseye.

To count as a scoring dart, the point of the dart must be touching the board. If a dart falls out of the board or you have a ‘bounce out’ before you retrieve your darts, then that dart will not score any points.

To decide who throws first, both players will throw for the bull’s-eye before the start of the game. The player’s dart who is closest to the bull will throw first. If both players hit the bull or outer bull, then you must throw till one player wins.

There are two main types of match darts, set play and match play.

Set play is the first player to win the set amount of sets; this is normally the first to 5, 6 or seven sets. Sets are made up legs, and it’s usually best of 5 legs to in a set. A leg is one game of 501.

Match play is where you play a best of a set amount of legs to win the game. So you would win a leg for every leg you win instead of trying to win a set.

There are also a few tournaments that are ‘double start’, this is where you need to start and finish on a double.

Darts Betting Tournaments

The biggest darts tournament is certainly the World Championships, which take place in December and January each year. The ‘Worlds’ attract players from across the globe and takes place at the Alexandra Palace in London. Darts fans can bet on who will win the World Championship almost all year round, with betting shops having a market on this long-term tournament bet.

Another big tournament is the Premier League of Darts, which is a 16-week tournament consisting of the top-ranked players in the world (and a few wildcards!). The tournament, which takes place between February and May, takes in some of the biggest arenas in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands, with thousands of fans following all the action.

Other major championships include the World Grand Prix, World Matchplay and the Grand Slam of Darts. The UK Open is another massive competition which started in 2003, while the European Championship aims to draw in some of the biggest names in the European darts scene.

There are also some prestigious non-ranking darts tournaments that players battle hard to win. They include The Masters, which features the top-16 players in the World, and the World Series of Darts. The beauty of the World Series of Darts is that it takes place across the globe over a number of tournaments. From Germany to Singapore, Australia to Shanghai, the World Series of Darts eventually finishes in one huge Finals torments — much like the Premier League of Darts.

The beauty of darts is that there is a tournament almost every week. Whether it be in the UK or Asia, there’s always something to watch and bet on when following this fantastic sport.

Darts Betting Markets

The options available for bettors in the darts market are as diverse as ever, with plenty on offer. Some typical wagers on the darts are as follows:

1×2 / Match Winner

As simple as it gets, the 1×2 market sees punters betting on who will win a specific match. In most tournaments matches cannot be drawn, but in some competitions, such as Premier League Darts, matches can result in draws.

Handicap Betting

These types of bets are common when one player is a big favourite to win his match. Bookmakers make it interesting by offering handicaps of certain numbers of legs (or sets) to make the betting more intriguing. So you might bet on the favoured player to win even with a handicap of -2.5 legs and you will get higher odds for predicting a win by over that specified margin. The handicaps are offered in legs in match play tournaments, or in sets in the longer ‘set play’ matches, in the World Championship, for example.

Outright Tournament Winner

Like a bet on a tennis player to win Wimbledon, or a football team to win the World Cup, here the punter picks who they think will win a darts tournament such as the PDC World Darts Championship or UK Open. Once the draw has been made for a major tournament check out the odds, do as much research as you can and place a sensible wager on a player you fancy.

Who Will Win Leg

If betting whilst the action is taking place is your thing this could be the best type of darts bet for you. You can place in-play bets via many bookmakers’ websites or apps on who will win the next leg or ‘To win leg 15’ or ‘To win leg 16’ and so on.

First 180 / Most 180s / Total 180s

The sound of a referee such as Russ Bray – affectionately known as The Voice – calling a 180 is one of the most familiar in darts. Players score 180s (3 x treble 20) pretty routinely but they still get a big cheer from the crowd. You can place bets such as which player will register the first 180 of the match, which player will score most 180s, how many will be scored in the match and how many 180s each player will manage in the match.

9 Dart Finish

For a player to score the perfect 501, winning a leg in 9 darts takes huge skill and is pretty rare. In the history of the sport 9 dart finishes have been televised live on just over 50 occasions, with players winning big prizes for achieving them. There are 3,944 possible routes to a 9 dart 501, with big pressure coming on the final ‘outshot’ on the ninth dart if the player is in with a chance. You can place a bet on ‘will there be a 9 dart finish in the match?’ Look for the highest odds you can get.

Correct Score

This market you will be betting on the correct score in the game. Correct score betting is one of the most attractive markets to bet on, as the odds are a lot greater than betting on the straight win markets. Although, correct scores can also be harder to get right, which is why the reward is higher.

E.g. Player A 11 – 7 Player B

170 Finish

170 is the highest 3 dart finish a player can hit, the only way this can be done is treble 20, treble 20 bulls eye. In this market, you are betting on if there will be 170 finish in the match.

Highest Match Checkout

This market you are betting on the what you think the highest checkout in the match will be. A checkout is the final three darts you throw to win the leg, ending on a double. The bookie will set the line on what they think the highest finish will be, and you can bet on whether you think it will be higher or lower than that number.

E.g. Over 130.5 or under 130.5

Highest Player Checkout

This market you are betting on what you think the player’s highest checkout will be. You can back either. E.g. Player A over 121.5 or under 121.5. Player B over 121.5 or under 121.5.

In Play

In Darts you can also bet In-Play, and there are many markets.

1. Match Result. Like in a pre-match you can bet on the match result as the game is being played, but the odds will move depending on who is winning the watch. Be aware that the odds can move fast in the market, a leg can be over within a few minutes.
2. To win the leg. You can bet in play on either player A or player B to win the leg. The player throw first will normally be the favourite to win the leg, as they have the advantage. This is the fastest moving market as the odds can change after every dart thrown, so can be very tricky to bet on.
3. Colour of the checkout in the next leg. All the doubles on the board are either red or green (Double 20 is red, double 16 is green) up until midway through the leg around the 200/300 points mark, but this varies depending on the bookie, you can bet on which colour will be the winning double either red or green.
4. Total checkout. Like with the colour of the checkout you can also bet on the total, were the bookie would give you the line. I.e. 40 or less, 41 or more then you can decide which one you would like to bet on.

Once you know the rules and become familiar with some of the main players, getting into it watching and betting on darts provides great entertainment.

Look into player form, statistics, head-to-head records, the players’ suitability to the tournament format and read as much as you can around the sport before placing your bet.

What to Consider When Betting on Darts

Do not think that darts is entertainment, and the favorite should always defeat the underdog. It is the same professional sport as many others, and it requires certain skills that men bring to perfection. Darts betting requires no less careful approach than betting on other sports.

Tournament Features

Before you make a bet, carefully examine the rules of the tournament. There are a lot of different rules in darts, which, although they have a standardized form, may differ from place to place.

The main differences are the number of “lags” in the set (or no sets at all), the number of initial points for the player, the mandatory ways of zeroing points in the last approach. All this and more in the rules directly affects the outcome of bets.

Player features

Explore your opponents. Since darts is a one-on-one game, learning the features of each opponent can become the main topic of match analysis. As with any other single sport (tennis, archery, rowing), much depends on the form of the dartsman.

We should not forget about the psychological component: the nerves of a dartsman are his center. If a player is upset with something or simply does not concentrate properly, it will be difficult for him to win.

Learn the players’ specifics. A deeper analysis of their statistics may give the correct hint at the rate. Does the player like to take risks? Are you ready to do a checkout for 170 points? How important is the face-to-face confrontation with the future opponent?

In reality, it can take up to several hours for a darts match to be analyzed.

Dart betting strategies

There are many strategies for betting on darts on the Internet. Some sites even promise a win-win strategy. In betting on any sport, including professional darts, you have to think only with your head.

There are no win-win strategies for darts in nature, otherwise sportsbooks would never put this sport in their lines.

Darts Live Streaming

The leading online sportsbooks all feature live sports streaming feeds and live darts betting odds on all major competitions and a whole host of lesser-known contests which take place across Europe and around the world throughout the year.

Look out for the PDC Players Championship competitions, European Tour events and also World Series of Darts tournaments which see the cream of the darting crop playing in Australasia, the Far East and the USA.

Darts tips from experts on some of these events can prove valuable as there is often limited recent form to go on.