Darts Betting Guide (Markets, Strategy, Players, Events)

A guide to betting on darts , that will provide what types of bets are most popular, where the markets are at their richest, and where all the best darts events can be found. This unique guide provides you with everything you need to know about betting on darts!

Darts Betting Guide Contents

1. Darts betting for Beginners
2. Betting on darts Explained
3. Darts Betting Markets explained
4. Darts tournaments explained
5. Darts Leagues
6. Betting in-play on darts
7. Spread betting on darts
8. Darts betting odds explained
9. Where to bet on darts
10. Darts betting tips and tipsters
11. Darts glossary of terms

Darts is a sport that is on the up, with the latest PDC World Championships having record viewing figures with help from the rise of Fallon Sherrock, who made history at the 2020 World Champs by becoming the first woman to win a match at the competition. 

Primarily a sport that was played in pubs up and down the country, Darts really started to come into the mainstream when players like Jocky Wilson and Eric Bristow really started to show a higher skilled Darts game. Of course, the biggest household name of all time in Darts is arguably Phil Taylor, who has won a record 16 World Championships in the sport. 

The modern day of Darts sees thousands of spectators pack into arenas across the World to watch darting events. Be it the World Championships at Ally Pally, to the Premier League across Europe, the majority of the PDC events are in front of sell out crowds including the latest PDC World Championships which saw Peter Wright beat Michael van Gerwen.

How do Darts matches work?

In a normal match of professional darts, two players take it in terms to throw three darts at a dartboard to score points. The aim in the majority of these games is to make it to 0, with the score for each leg usually starting at 501.

A dartboard is divided into 20 different sections, numbered from 1-20, with a bullseye ring in the middle of the board totalling 25 for in the outer bull and 50 for the inner bull. It is required to finish on a double to end a leg of Darts and getting the score down to zero. 

How to bet on Darts

There are so many different markets that you can bet on when it comes to Darts, be it the Match Result or handicap market, to most 180's and highest checkout. With more than 18 major tournaments in the year, from the World Championships to the World Cup, now is as good a time as ever to be betting on Darts.

There's one bookmaker that leads the way when it comes to Darts betting, coming out on top when it comes to great odds, a good range of markets and a fantastic range of events. We've gone into further detail about the best bookmaker for the arrows here.

How to bet successfully on Darts

Betting successfully on Darts can be similar to most other sports when it comes to form. Usually a player who is in good form going into a tournament will tend to do well in that tournament. In the same way you can always get consistent players in specific tournaments, be it because of the format or location or just their all round feel for their darts. 

It's good to see the averages that players have going into matches, as a better average means better form. The top end players in the world will be looking for a three dart average above 95, with the player with the highest dart average USUALLY ending up winning the game. 

Of course, that isn't always the case though. Similar to possession stats in football, there can be matches where a player has better finishing and ends up hitting more doubles than the other player and the average goes out of the window!

Learn as Much as You Can about Darts

From Michael van Gerwen to Gerwyn Price, the current big players in Darts have all shown great consistency in tournaments over the past couple of years. Michael van Gerwen currently leads the way in the Order of Merit, which goes to the player with the highest prize money earned over a 2 year period - we'll get into that later!

Where Can I get Darts Statistics?

Darts Statistics are important to look at when you're betting on specific matches or tournaments. It's important to use the stats to see how players have been looking in previous games, focusing on most wins, how many 180's they're throwing and how many doubles they are hitting.

We've already touched on dart averages earlier on, but they are key stats to focus on when researching previous games played. Head to heads between two players who you know will be coming up against each other in tournaments or league formats will also help give you a better look at what to bet on before the match starts.

Darts is a game of skill and the elite players are performing to such a high level that even the smallest inkling of a boost of averages or better finishes will help you when it comes to betting.

How to use darts statistics for betting

The Darts Database lets you see the amount of matches that have been played over a specific period of time, with the player's average over that period available too. The prime example of this is Michael van Gerwen, who has averaged 100.12 in 240 matches over the last two years.

What's the difference between the PDC and WDF?

In the sport of Darts there are two professional Darts organisations that rule the sport, with both organisations having their own rules, regulations and separate tournament events. The WDF stands for World Darts Federation and PDC stands for Professional Darts Council.

To put it in even simpler terms, PDC events are the ones which you will see on live on Sky Sports primarily with the majority of their events promoted by Matchroom Sports. BDO or British Darts Organisation was the other main organisation for Darts in the UK, but the organisation went into liquidation in September 2020.

Darts betting consists of many different markets, from the standard win markets, to how many legs a player wins and much more. 

• Match Betting
• Handicap Markets
• Most 180s
• Correct Score
• Highest Checkout
• Nine Dart Finish
• Outright Markets

Match Betting 

The straight match betting market is similar to any other sport, where the two players are against each other and you choose which one is going to win. The vast majority of these markets are just based around picking either one to win, but there are exceptions. When it comes to Darts Leagues like Premier League Darts the match can result in a draw, so the draw market is also an option for these matches. 

Handicap Markets

In a Darts Match, there is usually an amount of legs or sets that the player has to get in order to win the game. The Premier League is the best out of 14 legs, meaning that handicap markets in those games will be a minus amount of legs against the usual score, so a -3.5 handicap on a 8-3 game would put the winner at 4.5-3 therefore winning the bet.

Handicap betting plays a big part in Live Darts betting, with the handicap market offering a lot more value in terms of odds. In the earlier rounds of Darts tournaments, like the World Championships especially, you'll see higher seed players up against lower ranked opponents, meaning the odds are far lower and more bets are placed on handicap markets at better odds.

Most 180s

Usually, the most 180s market is on a straight match and lets you bet on either player to get the most 180s in the game. A 180 is the maximum score you can get in a single visit and happens when you hit three treble 20s at the oche.

There are also outright markets in certain tournaments that let you bet on the most 180s across the tournament, letting you have a longer odds punt at which player is going to be successful with 180s in a tournament.

Correct Score

With correct score betting, you are trying to predict the final result in terms of sets to in the match. In some cases, you may be able to find the ability to bet on legs too, but I would advise against this as it is infinitely more difficult.

Highest Checkout

The highest checkout bet lets you choose which player will have the best checkout in the match. The highest checkout that you can make in Darts is 170 and with the introduction of Bet Builders recently you can expect to see more bets with specific checkout scores in them.

Nine Dart Finish

A nine dart finish is when a player checks out the full 501 score in just nine darts. Usually an outright market, with players such as Michael van Gerwen hitting nine darters more frequently than we've seen in the past has recently seen the market available on certain games too

Outright Markets

There are a whole host of Darts tournaments that take place on a yearly basis. They are: 

• BDO World Championship (January)
• The Masters (January to February)
• Premier League (February to May)
• Players Championship Series (February to November)
• UK Open Finals (March)
• German Darts Masters (May)
• World Cup of Darts (May and June)
• North American Championship (July)
• US Darts Masters (July)
• Shanghai Darts Masters (July)
• World Matchplay (July)
• Australian & New Zealand Series (August)
• Champions League of Darts (September)
• World Grand Prix (September to October)
• European Championship (October)
• World Series of Darts Finals (November)
• Grand Slam of Darts (November)
• PDC World Championship (December to January)

The two main organisations in Darts are the PDC and the WDF.

The PDC or the Professional Darts Corporation to give them their full name are the most popular organisation in Darts, with the Premier League being their league for the professional players on their roster.  

Using a Betting Exchange to bet and trade on darts in play

There are many markets that are offered in-play on Darts, from the straight match betting market to correct score and standard handicap bets. Using a betting exchange to bet in-play means that you aren't just getting the standard odds that you get with normal bookmakers, but even more value on the exchange market.

More information on betting exchanges are available in our blog.

Spread betting on Darts allows you to not just bet on the main markets that are usually offered on each event. Darts Spread betting markets include popular markets such as highest checkouts and total 180s in a match, to niche markets like how many missed doubles there will be and much more.

To see more information on spread betting and how it works in darts, you can check out our blog. 

The PDC Order of Merit is a list of players across PDC events that is based on prize money that has been earned over the last two years. The current PDC Order of Merit looks like this as of January 2021

The Order of Merit is important when it comes to qualification for certain events, with the top 32 in the PDC Order of Merit qualifying for the World Darts Championships automatically. The top 16 qualify for the World Matchplay and the top 16 also qualify for the World Grand Prix.

Darts betting terms are few and far between, with some sports like Horse Racing and Football having specific terminology that relates from a betting standpoint only. 

Bullseye - The Bull or Bullseye is the centre of the dartboard, divided by the outer green bull and the inner red bull. The outer bull is worth a score of 25 with the inner worth 50.

Checkout - Checkout is when you hit the exact score that is required to win the game. Checkout markets can be popular when it comes to Bet Builders as they will be high odds markets based on exact checkouts in particular legs.

Nine-darter - A nine-darter or nine dart finish is when a player checks out a leg in 9 darts. The first two visits to the board usually consist of 180s, then the final three to check out. 

Oche - Oche is the name of the line that the players throw their darts from.

Tungsten - Tungsten is a dense metal that can be used to make darts. You may hear commentators use the phrase "throwing the tungsten" in relation to throwing darts at the board.

When betting on darts it is very likely that you will be doing so online, either on your computer or laptop at home or on your mobile phone on a betting site app.

You will want to ensure you are betting with the online bookmaker that has the best options for the type of bet you are looking to make. They may have some free bets available for the bigger events too.

If you don't already have an online bookmaker account I would suggest reading some bookie reviews first. 

Written by industry professionals who know what makes a good bookmaker or a bad one, they also have reviews from OLBG members too, offering their user experience. bet365 are carefully considered to be the best choice with Iive streaming, and a great range of darts betting markets.

This could be the one with the biggest range of events or betting markets or those that offer good odds in the ante-post markets well ahead of the majors or bigger tour events

Make sure you also do research into the best online bookmakers for betting on darts .

While honing your skills in darts betting you could also build a portfolio of darts betting tipsters from OLBG. With proven profitability and consistency, each darts tipster's records can be checked, although we show only those with the best tipping records anyway.

You'll see which darts betting selections they are making, supported with comments and reasoning as to why

What are the 5 biggest mistakes you can make betting on darts

1. Betting big names and favourites blind
2. Ignoring recent form
3. Not being aware of head to head records
4. Betting at the wrong odds
5. Betting with the wrong bookmaker

The OLBG members discuss a variety of sports on our forums, and that's always a good place to see how some members like to bet.

Member 'TeddyT' discusses how they try to find a winner when it comes to Darts,

"Watching as much live darts as you can is obviously likely to help with finding winners as is focusing on key statistics. There tends to be lots of focus on 3 dart averages on the televised games but perhaps of even more importance is how often each player hits a double to win the leg"