2026 PDC World Darts Championship Betting Tips & Preview

8th December 2025

The 2026 PDC World Darts Championship is just around the corner, and the stage is set for a thrilling tournament at the iconic Alexandra Palace in London. This year’s tournament is worth a mouth-watering £1,000,000 to the winner, and £400,000 to the runner-up, with a total prize pot of £5,000,000. This really is the big one to all dartists.

The big favourite to win it is Luke Littler, who won his first world title last year, at the grand old age of 17. Can anyone stop the Boy Wonder? We take a closer look here.

Tournament Winner (Selected)

(Please note all odds correct at time of publishing)

Luke Littler 10/11 (Bet365)

Luke Humphries 9/2 (Ladbrokes)

Josh Rock 16/1 (Coral)

Gian van Veen 16/1 (Ladbrokes)

Gerwyn Price 16/1 (BetFred)

Michael van Gerwen 20/1 (Bet365)

Nathan Aspinall 35/1 (Bet365)

Stephen Bunting 40/1 (BetFred)

Danny Noppert 50/1 (Coral)

Gary Anderson 50/1 (Bet365)

Jonny Clayton 66/1 (Bet365)

Chris Dobey 66/1 (Ladbrokes)

Beau Greaves 80/1 (Ladbrokes)

James Wade 80/1 (BetFred)

Michael Smith 150/1 (Coral)

Rob Cross 150/1 (Bet365)

Callan Rydz 150/1 (Ladbrokes)

Dave Chisnall 200/1 (BetFred)

Peter Wright 200/1 (Bet365)

Raymond van Barneveld 400/1 (Bet365)

Fallon Sherrock 1500/1 (BetFred)

Lisa Ashton 2000/1 (Bet365)

Noa-Lynn Van Leueven 2000/1 (BetFred)

 

We personally believe that Luke Littler is the most likely winner. He has been in sensational form this year, winning 5 of the 8 Majors available to him this season. Johnny Clayton defeated him in the quarter-final of the World Masters, Luke Humphries beat him in the final of the Premier League, and he lost against James Wade in the second round of the European Championship.

Other than that, Littler has been near perfect, winning the UK Open, the World Matchplay, the World Grand Prix, the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals, the last major played before the World Championship. So, Littler is a young man in serious form.

The other majors were won by Luke Humphries (The Masters), (Premier League), and Gian van Veen (European Championship), whilst the Women’s World Matchplay was won by Lisa Ashton.

The odds for Littler (10/11) do mean that the odds for everyone else get bigger, and this is where we can try to find some value. We would never put you off a bet on Littler, and for people with bigger betting banks, it could perhaps be a way to make some easy money.

But we do have to be cautious. Littler looks like he could be the most dominant darts player since Phil Taylor, and maybe even ever, but when Michael van Gerwen won his first world title in 2014 it looked like he was going to be the next Taylor. He has won a further two world titles since, but his last one was in 2019, although he has been the losing finalist three times since then. Everybody thought he would absolutely dominate, but he certainly hasn’t had it all his own way.

It is notoriously difficult to win two titles in a row, only Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson have managed it. So, while we feel Littler is the rightful favourite and the most likely to win it again, there are reasons to believe someone else could defeat him.

For this reason, we would like to pick a couple of players from the other half of the draw, each way. If they can make the final, at decent odds, even if they lose, it would still pay more than a 10/11 win on Littler.

Luke Humphries (9/2) would be the most obvious choice, but we want to look at bigger odds. This brings us back to van Gerwen himself. MVG, as we said, is 20/1 and has been to 7 world finals in the last 13 years. That is a fantastic record. He has the second most majors in history, behind only Phil Taylor, he is the current world number 3, and lost in the final last yeaar, so 20/1 is fantastic each way value.

The key with MVG, too, is that he is in the opposite side of the draw to Littler, so would avoid him until the final.

Gian van Veen (16/1) is another who has had an excellent year, would avoid Littler until the final and is good odds.

We also want small each stakes on Gary Anderson (50/1), James Wade (80/1), Michael Smith (150/1), and Rob Cross (150/1). Wade has been in very good form this year, while Anderson, Smith and Cross are all previous Worlds Darts Championship winners, so know what is needed to get the job done.

 

Betting Recommendations

Gian van Veen 16/1 (Ladbrokes) – 3 points each way

Michael van Gerwen 20/1 (Bet365) – 3 points each way

Gary Anderson 50/1 (Bet365) – 1 point each way

James Wade 80/1 (BetFred) – 0.5 points each way

Michael Smith 150/1 (Coral) – 0.5 points each way

Rob Cross 150/1 (Bet365) – 0.5 points each way