As we take a look at darts betting, we review all the best betting sites out there to see which is the best for darts betting and which free bets you can sign up to in order to maximise your betting experience. We will also take a look at the modern game and share some betting tips so that you can bet like a pro!
Darts Betting Guide in 2024
Table of Contents
The game of darts we know today began as a pastime in UK pubs, eventually turning into one of the nation’s most-watched competitions. But the origins of darts began over 100 years ago and it has only kept rising in popularity.
Fast forward to today and year after year the sponsorship money increases, more competitors sign up and larger audiences tune in for dart competitions, capturing the imagination of many punters. But how was the modern dartboard designed and why did it become so popular?
We answer all these questions and also help you navigate through the various types of games and bet types. We include some tips to help get you started and increase your chances of winning as well as the betting sites we believe support the sport of darts, best.
Best Darts Betting Sites
The betting sites we recommend below are all UKGC regulated and therefore you may bet with confidence. Our list below outlines which Betting Sites we find best for betting on darts specifically.
Tons of promotions and sponsors, William Hill is a staple in UK betting sites and sponsors the World Darts Championship. They are known for their great customer service, great in-play betting and darts live streaming platform. Read our review of William Hill.
Known for its Live Betting markets, Betfred also sponsors the Darts World Matchplay. They have a dedicated darts page and keenly update their social media to bring you the latest darts information.
Great customer service especially on live chat. The Bet Finder feature will help you navigate and choose your bet more easily through a filter functionality. It has competitive odds and good betting deals to help you get the most value from your bet! BetVictor is also a sponsor of the World Cup of Darts.
Betting Markets
Normally there is very little added value when betting on the outright market of a darts match or competition. This is also a result of it being the most popular market for punters to bet on and therefore oddsmakers do their utmost to get the odds right. This means, therefore, that other side markets might be more attractive, offer more value and retain better winning potentials – and are also better for betting on accas and same game multis. The most popular markets are:
Match Betting
As simple as it gets, the punter places a bet on one of the two players competing. It is by far the most popular market to bet. Pick your winner and place your stake!
Handicap Betting
In essence, it is the same as match betting however with one distinct difference – the players are evened out. More often times than not, one player tends to be stronger than the other so punters introduce a handicap to even the game out and give the underdog a better chance. The handicap usually comes in the form of awarding extra sets to one player, meaning the other player starts with a handicap and has to make up this hypothetical loss.
Most 180s
The maximum amount of points per turn a player can score is 180 or in other terms – hitting the triple 20, 3 times in a row. This is the ultimate test of skill and punters can place bets on which player they believe will achieve this feat the most times in one game.
Other Markets –
These are less popular markets; however, the variety continues to increase and the odds on these markets can be more to your favour. Some betting sites may introduce markets such as the origin of the winner, set betting and more.
Fun Fact: The greatest darts player of current, as well as the favourite heading into the PDC World Championship 2021, is Michael van Gerwen. He is a Dutch professional dart player, who won the World Masters in 2006 at the age of 17. Making him the youngest player in history to win the World Masters.
Darts Betting Tips
At this stage, you’d like to back a winner or place a bet you believe is sure to win. Unfortunately, there are no sure bets in betting and therefore we advise caution to all our followers. However, you can find a few good darts betting strategies in our darts strategies page.
The following tips cannot be considered as sure winners however, they are a foundation which should provide more consistent winners and outcomes.
Tip #1 – Know Your History
Like all other subjects, understanding the origins helps us put things into place and makes the subject we are reviewing, even clearer. For this reason, our biggest and first tip is to ‘Know Your History’ – we have covered the origins, however, there is more you can discover just with some of your own research.
Tip #2 – Who’s Who
New players arrive on the circuit every year, but like all sports, some players are standouts or vets that have been around and caught the attention of punters through their consistent or great plays. In this case, we cannot stress enough on the point of research – going through past performances, understanding styles and what makes a player a favourite versus the underdog. Data is king and the more of it you can absorb, the more consistent your winning bets will be.
Tip #3 – Blogs and Forums
Many of the top dart betting sites offer blogs or articles with more current tips that you can take advantage of. This section can also include recent news which could affect the performance of a player or outcome of the game. Keep abreast of the latest information if you want to make the most informed decision possible. The odds may shorten, however, this is a sign that they are more accurate.
Tip #4 – Know the Tournaments
Home and away are real contributors to the outcome of a match so it’s very important to understand how players perform outside of their comfort zone. The 5 biggest tournaments in the world of darts are:
• William Hill World Darts Championship
• Betfred World Matchplay
• Ladbrokes UK Open
• BoyleSports World Grand Prix
• Unibet Premier League Darts
As you can see the Premier League darts league is very popular and is currently sponsored by Unibet which focuses on improving the tournament.
Tip #5 – Bet Types
In the following section, we’ll go into more detail however there are various markets within dart betting that you can bet on and not necessarily just the outright winner. You may find more value in these side-markets, therefore, our suggestion is to identify value and try maximising your winning potential through better odds!
Fun Fact: The 2020 Professional Darts Corporation, organized the 27th World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace, London. The prize pool was reportedly in excess of £2.5m.
Early Origins of Darts
Whilst the modern game of darts as we know it today was recently invented (a little over 100 years ago), it has been around in some shape or form since the era of the 1300s. Darts was deemed a military pastime for almost 700 years until the modern equivalent was invented by Brian Gamlin in 1896.
The earliest form was witnessed by soldiers who would compete with each other by throwing spearheads at the bottom of upturned wine casks. This was heavily encouraged, as it was a very effective manner to practice and improve their aim. From wine casks to tree trunk cross-sections, the targets were many and so were the sharp objects thrown – therefore the basis of darts seems to have existed for some time.
As more and more soldiers began to play, the natural evolution of the pastime required a solid foundation of rule sets that could set the tone for what we know today as darts. The tree trunk cross-sections inspired the game of today as the natural growth rings of the tree acted as the sections of a dartboard in modern times.
The uncomplicated and skilled practice quickly became a favourite pastime and adopted across Britain. The King of England, Henry VIII, was an avid player and the rest of the noble world quickly followed. It was around the 1800s that the game was widely popular in the UK and in 1896, the carpenter from Lancashire invented the circled number system we know today.
The Modern Game of Darts
If you have ever wondered why the Dartboard seems to be randomly thrown together numerically, we have an answer for you.
Brian Gamlin put a considerable amount of thought into the design and whilst many believed it was random, there was genius and reason behind the order of the numbers.
The concept was simple: to try and reduce the amount of luck, and increase the emphasis on skill.
For example, If you look at numbers 20 and 19. The thought behind putting these as far apart from each other on the board was to avoid scoring high on a botched shot. This means that when you aim at the 20 number, a little to the left, or to the right would result in a huge loss in points – 5 or 1 respectively.
Same goes for the Double and Triple sections – with the triple being the smallest amount of area a player can aim at making it the hardest. This can also be seen with the area of the bullseye – and you may have guessed therefore by this point that the term was inspired by true events. Archers were tested on their ability to shoot an arrow through the eye socket of a bull’s skull, hence the term.
Fun Fact: In 2019, Fallon Sherrock from Milton Keyes, became the first female to beat a man at the PDC World Championships! Since then, she has been named “Queen of the Palace.”