Darts is one of the fastest growing sports. In its dawn, darts was associated primarily with pubs and and taverns. Today, however, professional darts championships take place in some of the most renown sports venues around the world.
At present, there are two professional darts leagues in existence – the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) and the BDO (British Darts Corporation). Established in 1973, the BDO was the first and only professional darts league until 1992, when a number of leading players split from the BDO and formed what was initially named the World Darts Council (WDC). Today, the PDC is considered the jewel in the crown of darts, holding several of the most highly regarded darts competitions.
With the growth of darts as a sport, a number of sports punters started indulging in darts betting. Nowadays, darts is one of the most popular sports to wager on and world’s leading bookmakers, such as William Hill and BGO, offer darts betting. There are various darts betting markets to wager on and tens of tournaments each year, providing sports punters with plenty of betting options.
Darts in a Nutshell
Darts is one of the oldest English pub games and since the inception of BDO, it has become one of the most loved sports on the planet. In the dawn of the 20th century, darts was played in various parts of England and the only matches in existence were friendly matches between pubs, located close to each other. At present, however, darts is tremendously popular not only in the UK, but also in the Netherlands as well.
Darts is a precision sport and is regarded as one of the most difficult sports of that kind as well. Essentially, darts matches take place between two players (or teams), players/teams take turns throwing three consecutive darts in order to win matches. The target is positioned at a distance of seven feet, nine and a quarter inches.
Whereas in theory darts is an exceptionally simple, turn-based game, in which players have to hit 501 points in as few throws as possible, things do not look the same in practice. And when you look at the best bookmakers listed here proves that darts is far from a simple sport.
Competitions to bet on
Curiously, the PDC is far more lucrative than the BDO. It is the fact that the PDC organises some of the biggest darts tournaments which makes PDC wagering far more profitable than BDO betting. The most important darts tournament on the planet is the World Professional Championship.
The Championship was held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, when 19 players split from the BDO to form the PDC. At present, each organisation holds its own World Professional Championship.
Apart from their World Darts Championship, the BDO also holds BDO British Open, Scottish Open, and Welsh Open.
PDC, on the other hand, holds the UK Open, World Grand Prix, World Matchplay, Premier League, and Champions League.
Betting Markets
As with any other sport, the darts betting market has an amazing range. Below, we will discuss some of the most common darts betting markets.
Match Winner
The most straightforward type of bet is the match winner bet, where you simply back a player to win the match. Keep in mind that in some league-based competitions, you might be able to wager on a draw as well.
Most 180s
This market enables you to back the player you that you think will hit the most 180s in either the match or the tournament. This bet comes with three options – one of the players to hit the most 180s, the other player to do it. The third option is a draw, i.e., both players to score the same number of 180s.
Correct Score
In this betting market, punters wager on the correct score of the game. This is regarded as one of the most attractive markets as it yields the highest returns. Still, this is also one of the hardest bet to get right, as it is difficult to guess the correct score.
Total 180s
What is interesting about this type of bet is that it combines the 180s hit by both players. Here, the bookmaker proposes a numeral and you bet on either a bigger or a smaller number.
Handicap 2 Way
As in most sports, in darts, too, it is not unusual to have a match between an experienced player and an amateur. This causes bookmakers to “handicap” the professional and give the amateur a head start. For example, if you have a match between Player A and Player B and Player B is the amateur, the bookmaker might offer you +2.5 odds in favour of Player B. That way, Player A will have to win by 3 or more in order to beat the handicap.
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