PDC World Darts Championship Tips: Predictions, Specials and Odds For Ally Pally

The 2024 PDC World Darts Championship gets underway on December 15, with Michael Smith looking to defend his crown against the likes of Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price.

The almost three-week long tournament throws up an abundance of specials that are available on betting sites ahead of the start of play and we have identified some of the most eye-catching markets that will keep you entertained for the duration, should you wish to place a bet.

Each year, Alexandra Palace provides us with a bucket load of 180s, a handful of 170 checkouts and sometimes even a nine-darter or two.

With this in mind, we’ve gathered all the data from the previous World Championship's to showcase the likelihood of the pre-tournament specials landing a winning bet for this year's edition.

How Many Nine-Darters Could We See?

There has been 14 nine-dart finishes thrown at the World Championships, with the first coming back in 2009 thanks to Raymond van Barneveld.

Ladbrokes reckon there is a 1.57 chance that we see a 15th nine-darter this year, with odds of 2.5 being offered for one not to be hit.

There was a four-year hiatus between 2017-2020 in which we didn’t see a nine-darter, with the only other edition of the tournament not to feature a ‘nine’ coming back in 2012.

This means that we have seen nine-darters hit in 10 of the last 15 tournaments that have been held at the Alexandra Palace, with a minimum of one looking likely at this year’s event.

Since 2008, there has only been three editions of the tournament in which we have seen multiple nine-dart finishes. We saw two in 2013 and 2014, before seeing a record-breaking three nine-darters back in 2022.

As such, bookmakers are offering odds of 3.0 for over 1.5 nine-darters to be hit, while odds of 5.0 to match or better the tally of 2022 at over 2.5 are available.

The three clear favourites for this tournament on darts betting sites are Humphries, Van Gerwen and Price and the source of the ‘nine’ could well come from one of these three. 

Cool Hand is 7.0 to hit the nine, while Mighty Mike can be found at 7.5 and The Iceman is available at 9.0.

Who Will Win The Inaugural Ballon d’Art?

Hitting the most 180s at the World Championship is not something that lives long in the memory of most players, however, with the new addition of the Ballon d’Art trophy, 2024s top 180-hitter will certainly be remembered.

The title sponsors are donating £1,000 ($1,900) for each 180 hit at this year’s tournament in hope of raising £1m for charity and exchange betting sites have a newfound interest for this market.

Last year's record of 901 scores of 180 were hit at the World Championship, with eventual winner Michael Smith hitting the most individually with 66.

So let’s take a look at the highest 180 scorers from the past 10 years:

Last 10 '180 Winners'

• 2023: Michael Smith (66)
• 2022: Michael Smith (83)
• 2021: Gerwyn Price (55)
• 2020: Peter Wright (68)
• 2019: Michael Smith (64)
• 2018: Rob Cross (66)
• 2017: Gary Anderson (71)
• 2016: Adrian Lewis (60)
• 2015: Gary Anderson (64)
• 2014: Michael van Gerwen (52)

Bully Boy unsuprisingly tops the list, hitting the most 180s on three occasions, with Gary Anderson as runner-up, appearing twice. 

The player who hits the most 180s has made the final in all of the last 10 tournaments, so it could be wise to side with a player who you think could lift the Sid Waddell trophy come January 3.

Tournament favourite Humphries is the shortest price for the new accolade at a price of 4.5 with Unibet, while Smith is available at 8.0 to top the list for a fourth time. 

Other notable mentions include Price who is also a 8.0 shot, Van Gerwen who is available at 9.0 and Anderson who is 11.0 to make it a hat-trick of appearances on the most 180s list.

As mentioned, there was a record 901 maximums hit in the 2023 World Championship and bookmakers are offering odds of 8.5 for 1000 or more 180s to occur this year.

How Many Maximum Finishes Will We See?

Last year we saw six checkouts of 170 completed. Smith, Van Gerwen, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Martin Schindler and Chris Dobey all achieved the Treble 20, Treble 20, Bullseye finish. And bookmakers have priced up the odds for last year's tally to be exceeded this time round.

Odds as short as 1/50 are being offered for us to see a 170 checkout hit this year, with Bet365 providing a best price of 13.0 for no maximum checkout to be achieved throughout the tournament – a feat that has never occurred in 16 years at Ally Pally.

In the last 10 years there have been 47 finishes of 170 and bookmakers have set the line of over and under at 4.5 this year. They are offering 1.73 that over 4.5 170s are hit, while they will give you 2.0 for there be less than five taken out.

In four of the last five years, the player who has gone on to win the tournament has hit a 170 on route to the title – so it could be worth opting for the double when selecting an outright winner.

Since moving to Ally Pally the lowest amount of 170s hit came back in 2009, in which Andy Hamilton was the only man to record the ‘big fish’, while 2020 saw a new record of eight 170s achieved.

You can back that record tally to be matched or beaten at odds of 6.5, with nine or more 170s available at odds of 11.0.

Should you wish to select multiple players to record a 170 finish this year, betting sites are offering odds of 21.0 that Van Gerwen, Humphries and Price all reel in the ‘big fish’ at some stage of the tournament.