A sport that has had its peaks throughout the last 30 or 40 years, darts has gone to a new level through the emergence of Luke Littler and the PDC expanding their calendar and majorly raising prize funds.
As a result, betting on darts is becoming more commonplace and one of the leading sports in the industry – and it is easy to do when you know how. Check out our expert guide for everything you need to know about how to get in on the darting action.
Different types of darts bets
There are several different types of bets to get your head around when navigating the darts markets, such as the match treble whereby a player could be backed to win the match, hit the most 180’s in the game and also have the highest checkout. Let’s break down a few of the other types.
Darts betting outright winner
Outright betting is fairly self-explanatory and is common across all sports markets, with the intention being to bet on the winner of a specific match. Whether it be a Pro or Euro Tour match that is first to six legs or the World Championship final and first to seven sets, this is simply backing the winner of a match or even a competition.
There are eight ranked darting majors, as well as three other premier competitions that are not ranked, to bet on and you can back the winner of each outright. The same for any of the 34 Players Championship or 14 European Tour events throughout the year.
The Premier League did once feature a best of 12 legs format which meant matches could finish in a 6-6 draw but there is no event on the darting calendar that can now finish in a draw and so outright betting for an individual match is simply just two outcomes.
In-play darts betting
Like all sports, in-play betting in darts has grown in recent years for punters to judge the flow of the game to try and cash in on a player’s momentum or perhaps back a losing player to make a stirring turnaround.
Luke Littler is someone who is specifically very good for this type of thing, with the 2025 world champion beginning to get a reputation for starting slowly before moving through more gears than perhaps any darter has ever had before.
For best of 11-leg matches, common in the Players Championship and the European Tour, in-play betting isn’t available, but for televised events, it is very useful, especially for longer formats in major events.
You can back outright winners or the amount of 180s in the game, the amount of 100+ finishes or even simply the most 100+ or 140+ scores from an individual player or in the match.
How does handicap betting in darts work
Handicap betting in darts works in a similar way to how it works in football. In football, if you were to back Liverpool to win with a -2 handicap then they would have to win by a minimum of a three-goal margin, such as 3-0 or 4-1, in order to win that bet.
In darts, depending on the format, it works the same way. For example, in a simple European Tour event where the format is best of 11 up until the semi-finals, if you backed the aforementioned Littler with a -1 handicap to beat Michael van Gerwen then he would have to win either 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 or 6-0 for the bet to win.
Here’s a couple of tables to show the difference based on different formats, from a Euro Tour Round of 16 clash to the final of the World Darts Championship.
How to Place a Bet on Darts
- Deposit a minimum of £5 into a betting account - here is who you could join with.
- Find the match you want to place a bet on and choose the correct market.
- Place your stake on your chosen market and bet.
- For the early rounds of a tournament, such as the upcoming World Grand Prix, accumulator betting on outright wins for individual players could be beneficial to boost your odds. For example, backing the winners of all 16 first round matches.
World Darts Championship
When is the 2025/26 World Darts Championship?
The PDC World Darts Championship is expanding for the 2025/26 tournament, meaning it will begin even earlier into December as the number of entrants goes from 96 to 128 players.
That means the top 32 seeds, who previously got a bye into the second round of the competition, will now have to begin in the first round – which begins on Thursday, December 11 and runs through until the final on Saturday, January 3. The only days that do not have darts on during that three and a half week stint are Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years’ Eve.
World Darts Championship 2025/26 prize money?
To go with the expansion of the World Championship, the PDC has also expanded the calendar for next year and they have also increased the prize money for all competitions, including the Worlds.
The prize money for the winner was £500,000 in 2025, but that will go up to £1 million from this year’s event, with prize money for the tournament coming to £5 million.
| Round | Number of players | Prize money |
|---|---|---|
| First Round | 64 | £15,000 |
| Second Round | 32 | £25,000 |
| Third Round | 16 | £35,000 |
| Fourth Round | 8 | £60,000 |
| Quarter-finals | 4 | £100,000 |
| Semi-finals | 2 | £200,000 |
| Final | 1 | £400,000 |
| Winner | 1 | £1,000,000 |
How much do darts players make?
From ranked and non-ranked PDC events last year, Luke Littler was the highest earning player in 2024, making just over £1.4 million after being runner up at the 2024 World Darts Championship, not including other exhibition or sponsorship money.
Beyond the elite, a professional career in darts can be made for around 50-70 or so players purely from PDC money and not earnings elsewhere, but it is extremely hard to maintain that standard for simply being a Pro Tour Card Holder.
For example, in the 2024 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit, which doesn’t include majors or European Tour performances, William O’Connor was a top 32 seed at £34,500.
Luke Littler Net Worth
Luke Littler earned close to £2 million in his first year as a professional darter and he has earned close to £750,000 this year, too, from ranked and non-ranked PDC events. It is not known what his exact net worth is but it is believed to be over £2.5 million.
Who won last year’s World Championship?
Luke Littler won the 2025 World Championship, a year after reaching the final in his debut outing. In last year's final, he defeated three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 at Alexandra Palace.
Who is the favourite to win the 2026 World Darts Championship?
Littler’s performances on the floor in the Players Championship have diminished in 2025 with the Warrington-born arrowsmith opting out of a lot of events but, on the stage, he has perhaps gone to a new level and he is the firm favourite to back his title at best odds of 6/4 with AK Bets.
In 2025, he has won the UK Open and the World Matchplay but has been beaten in the final of the Premier League by 2024 world champion and current world number one Luke Humphries, as well as in the final of the World Series Finals by the aforementioned Van Gerwen.
Humphries is viewed as the second favourite to regain the trophy with Van Gerwen, who has a tricky year both on and off the oche, viewed as joint third favourite by many, alongside Josh Rock.
Premier League Darts 2026
When is the Premier League Darts 2026?
Premier League Darts is perhaps the next biggest event for casual darting fans to back on with it being a weekly event through the spring that is shown live on Sky Sports.
The opening night of the 2026 season is Thursday, February 5 and will take place in Newcastle before running every Thursday in Antwerp, Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Nottingham, Dublin, Berlin, Manchester, Brighton, Rotterdam, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield before the finals night in London Thursday, May 28.
Premier League Darts prize money 2026
Luke Humphries won the Premier League for the first time this year, having finished second behind Littler in the table and been runner up to Littler in 2024. He won £275,000 for winning the title as well as an extra £30,000 due to the weekly night win bonus during the campaign.
The prize money is going up for 2026, though, and is as follows:
| Position | Prize money |
|---|---|
| Winner | £350,000 |
| Runners' up | £170,000 |
| Semi-finals | £110,000 |
| 5th | £95,000 |
| 6th | £90,000 |
| 7th | £85,000 |
| 8th | £80,000 |
| Nightly winner bonus | £10,000 |
What are the other majors in darts?
The World Darts Championship is the holy grail in the sport, taking place at the end of the year with the final a few days into the New Year each year, both ending and beginning the seasons.
In terms of prestige, majors are often ranked by many pundits, despite the PDC asking for that not to be the case, but for the sake of this, the next one on the pecking order would be the World Matchplay, which takes place in Blackpool in July, whilst the World Grand Prix in early October falls third.
Beyond that, the World Masters and the UK Open in the first couple of months of the year have historic significance. As does the Grand Slam of Darts, albeit a shake-up in terms of its qualifying criteria may soon be required.
Then there is the European Championship and the Players Championship Finals, which effectively round off the year’s major tours, the European Tour and the Pro Tour.
Those are the ranked majors, with the non-ranked majors including the Premier League and the World Cup of Darts, as well as the World Series Finals, which does a similar job to the European Championship and Players Championship Finals for the end of the World Series.
Top tips for darts betting
1. Do your research
Try to avoid placing bets on matches and involving players of which you know very little about or have no knowledge of. The early rounds the UK Open and European Tour events could trip you up with this, whilst the Premier League, for example, is popular for betting as, at least in principle, it should be the eight gun darters in the world at the time.
Try and follow how a player has performed throughout the year when it comes to the Worlds before placing a bet, rather than relying on the name and reputation of someone like a Michael Smith, for example, who is the 2023 world champion but is now tumbling down the rankings.
2. Follow tipsters on social media or other platforms
There are plenty of accounts and people to follow to make the most of their darting expertise before placing a bet, including with us here at The Sporting News.
3. Make use of promotions and welcome offers
With darts betting only set to grow further in the industry, it could be worth having a punt on this week’s World Grand Prix to try and find some value via new customer offers and promotions with a variety of bookmakers. Here’s our round up of the best welcome offers right now from our selected partners.
4. Bankroll management
It’s important to ensure you’re betting within your means. Bet responsibly and don’t chase your losses. Deposit limits have changed massively in the last five years, with regulations tightening to help you manage your money. But with the best betting sites competing for your loyalty, you must ensure you’re keeping track of your betting history and bankroll.
FAQ: Betting on Darts
- Can I use my phone to bet on darts? Yes, like any sport, using a betting app of your choice you to bet on darts.
- Is darts betting easy to do? There are no special or different skills for darts betting as opposed to other sports so, yes.
- What types of bets can I place on darts? A lot of companies will offer specials to bet on but you yourself can also place accumulators as well as tournament or match outright bets, as well as a bet builder on a match with some bookmakers.
Summary of betting on darts
The gambling industry is only growing and one of the sports set to perhaps most continue to explode in the UK all-round is darts, and the sport is ideally setup to rise in the gambling industry, too.
There are plenty of markets to bet on and, most importantly for a punter, too, a lot of events to bet on with the PDC’s ranked and non-ranked majors supporters by primary tours and even secondary tours such as the Challenge Tour, Development Tour and the Women’s Series.