Big winning bets from Thursday's darts, snooker and NFL

Who is in the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts?

What a fantastic night of darts last night in Wolverhampton as the final eight in the Grand Slam of Darts was set. Michael Smith bullied Joe Cullen out, 10-5, and Peter Wright knocked out the reigning champion Jose de Sousa 10-9 before the Queen of the Palace took over - Fallon Sherrock was in imperious form as she thrashed Mensur Sujlovic. After losing the first two legs, she won 10 of the next 13 to become the first woman to make the Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals. Fallon gets the chance for revenge on Wright in the last eight, having lost 5-1 to him in the group stage. It would take something special to follow that match, and Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson provided it. When the clash of the two former world champs started with five straight 140s, a sequence broken by a 180, you could feel a classic brewing. MVG eventually came out on top 10-8 in a classic in which both players averaged over 100 and there was even a bit of on-stage needle for added drama, not that it was needed!

Total Checkout Ton or Bust (settled at 570)

This market aggregates all checkouts that are 100 or more, so a 99 checkout adds 0 to this market, but a 100 checkout adds 100. Across the four matches last night, the scoring was impressive, but there was a lack of big checkouts, and sellers in this market made a tidy profit. The spread was set at 984-1034 across the evening, meaning sellers made 414 times their bet.

Did Ronnie O’Sullivan make it out of his group in snooker’s Champion of Champions?

John Higgins thrashed Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-1 to make the semi-finals of snooker’s Champion of Champions and prove that his best days aren’t behind him. After losing the English Open final against Neil Robertson - having knocked Ronnie out along the way - Higgins suggested that his best snooker was no longer good enough, but on last night’s evidence, there’s life in the old dog yet! Having come through a last frame decider against Ding Junhui in the afternoon, the Scot played flawless snooker as Ronnie, who had knocked out Stuart Bingham earlier, made mistake after mistake.

Ronnie O’Sullivan Points (settled at 194)

It was an off night for the enigmatic Englishman as Higgins took advantage of his countless mistakes to punish him. The spread for Ronnie’s total points in the game was set at 516-541 before the game, meaning sellers made 322 times their bet as Higgins turned the screw and eased to a 6-1 win.

Who won the NFL’s Thursday Night Football between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons?

Defence wins championships so they say, and if that’s true, the glory days could be coming back to the New England Patriots sooner rather than later. The Pats shut out the Falcons last night, winning 25-0 to make it five wins in a row to move to 7-4 for the season. New England have now only conceded 13 points in the past three games. This is the Patriots longest winning streak since they started the 2019 season 8-0, their final season with Tom Brady at quarter-back. Now, with Mac Jones running the show, the new look Pats are hoping to ride their defence all the way to a Super Bowl, though they will face much tougher opposition than the hapless Falcons.

Atlanta Multi-Points (settled at 0)

With this New England defence looking something special, having conceded just six and seven points in the last two games, we saw some selling in Atlanta markets, and that was rewarded across the board when the Falcons failed to register a point last night. Multi-Points is made up of first half points multiplied by second half, and as Atlanta didn’t score in either, the market was settled at 0. The spread before the game was set at 94-114, meaning sellers won the maximum 94 times their stake.