How to bet on darts

Phil
08 Jul 2021
Phil Lowe 08 Jul 2021
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Players Championship darts
Michael Van Gerwen has won six titles (Getty Images)

How to bet on darts


Darts is one of the cornerstones of British sporting and pub culture, and over the years its market has slowly begun to spread internationally as well.

The sport has always been a favourite for gamblers and with the rise of online gambling, has found an even bigger market than ever before.

The sheer number of darts games that take place each year make it an excellent choice to have a cheeky flutter on but betting on darts is not as simple as it may appear.

There are many important elements when it comes to betting on darts but thankfully for you, we here at bonus bets have compiled this useful how-to guide so you can find out everything you need to know about betting on darts.

Darts schedule


The most common type of darts punters will be betting on are the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) tournaments.

These will run at various points throughout the year, with the biggest being the World Championship which takes place every December.

Other popular tournaments in darts include the Premier League,  UK Open, European Championships, The World Cup of Darts, The Masters, The World Grand Prix, The Grand Slam of Darts and several others.

The PDC pro-tour also runs throughout the year but the matches are untelevised and can be difficult to follow, though, some of them may be available on some of the bookmakers' websites or mobile apps.

Darts is also beginning to gain traction around the world now and it is possible to find markets from other countries including the likes of the USA and Canada.



Types of bets


Match result


Like most sports, the most common type of bet to be placed in darts is on who will win a one on one match.  

Due to the fact darts is an individual sport and is therefore fully dependant on the performance of one person, seeing upsets is not as uncommon here as it is in some other sports and a good eye for an outsider could prove to be incredibly beneficial.

Tournament outright


Another incredibly popular type of bet when it comes to darts is to bet on who is going to be the outright victor of a tournament.

Betting on an outsider here is not as advised as it would be in a singles match, however, as the sport certainly has an upper level of elite players who commonly win tournaments.

Handicap betting


Handicap betting, which puts one of the players in a match at a hypothetical disadvantage, is incredibly popular when it comes to betting on darts.

Due to the fact that there is often a clear favourite, especially in the earlier stages of a tournament, a handicap bet will even those odds a little bit and could make you some extra cash if you believe an underdog is going to come close to beating one of the favourites.

This type of betting can be incredibly lucrative if you have a good knowledge of the sport outside of just the elite players.

Nine-darter


A nine-darter is the holy grail of playing darts. In short, it is when a player manages to work their way down from 501 to 0 with the perfect nine-dart combination.

While nine-darters are not as uncommon as they once were, these bets can still be well worth it from a punter’s perspective.

You should pay attention to the format of a tournament here, with some tournaments holding lengthier matches and therefore creating more opportunities for players to hit a nine-darter.

Some tournaments, however, may require a player hits a double to both start and finish their round, making hitting a nine-darter even more difficult.

Special bets


Darts is becoming an increasingly popular sport to bet on, and as such, bookmakers are constantly in competition with one another to draw in the punters.

A lot of sites will offer good sign-up offers for darts, while many will often offer plenty of enhanced odds and special bets around the most popular tournaments, especially the World Championships.

Other types of special bets may be proposition bets based around the players, with bookies often offering specials on what they will do in the tournament or individual matches.

Tournament specials like the number of nine-darters or the number of 180s scored are also very common.

Where to bet


Most of the major bookmakers will offer odds on all of the major PDC tournaments, while some will also cover some of the smaller bodies as well.

Most of the major bookmakers will also offer live streaming of some darts games, meaning that you can keep up with your bets in real time.

Darts betting strategy


As with any other sport, the key to success in darts betting is to make sure you do the appropriate amount of research.

Studying the form of players and also how they have lined up against one another in the past is always a useful indicator of potential results.

Due to the high number of tournaments in darts, it is also worth studying up on the format of each of the individual tournaments and how that may benefit certain players or betting markets.

Darts can also last for quite a while and take a look of twists and turns during play, so it is always worth keeping an eye on the odds in-play as well.

In darts, it is also worth keeping an eye on some outsiders and the lesser known players, as bookmakers can become negligent sometimes and give away some fairly generous odds on these players in big tournaments.

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