It’s almost Christmas so that can mean only one thing, no not a frantic last-minute dash around the shops on December 24th for a present for the missus - the PDC World Championship darts from Ally Pally.

The boisterous scenes showing hundreds of inebriated fans in fancy dress, brandishing various illegibly scrawled messages on placards towards TV cameras has now become a staple diet of the festive season on Sky.

Debate will rumble on as to whether two overweight, middle-aged men throwing things at a board should actually constitute a sport, but from a betting perspective this activity has grown and grown for bookmakers over the years.



Last year (or actually this year as the final is played in January) there was a genuine surprise as Gary Anderson took the title for the first-time ever with a thrilling 7-6 victory over 14-time winner and all-round darts legend Phil Taylor.

Anderson is the 6/1 third favourite to repeat his feat this time around, with a spread of 20 – 23 on our 60-40-20-10-5 spread betting Outright Index, which is based on 60 points awarded to the eventual winner, 40 to the runner-up, 20 to the losing semi-finalists, 10 to losing quarter-finalists and 5 to anyone exiting in the round of 16 (meaning buyers at 23 would need Anderson to at least reach the final to turn a profit).

The aforementioned Taylor has not won the tournament since 2013 and will be desperate to prove his powers are not waning, however defeat to Michael van Gerwen in the final of last month’s Grand Slam of Darts means the Stokey currently holds no major titles and our traders have him at 15/4 on the fixed odds outright and 27.5 – 30.5 on the spread betting Outright Index.

Taylor’s recent nemesis, world number one van Gerwen remains the favourite at 4/5 on the fixed odds and 41.5 – 44.5 on the Outright Index. But the Dutchman’s PDC win in 2014 remains his only victory in this tournament since he broke onto the scene a few years back.

Looking further down the list, Adrian Lewis, with a spread betting Outright Index price of 9.5 – 12, has attracted some interest from Spreadex punters while if you’re looking for a bit of a shot to nothing, we’ve had some nibbles on Austrian Rowby-John Rodriguez to spring a surprise on Dave Chisnall in the first round.

As usual at Spreadex we have a host of specials to play on to help create interest over the full tournament including Total Tournament 180s (currently priced at 645 – 665), Name the Finalist markets and other Index groupings.

The action on the oche – and pandemonium in the crowd – begins tonight and Spreadex will be offering in-play spread betting and fixed odds betting on every game until the final on Sunday, January 3rd.

Right, just time to grab my Santa costume, write some irreverent messages on to a piece of card board and head over to Alexandra Palace. Come on everyone, let’s all do the oche cokey…