World Darts Championship 2025 – Everything You Need to Know
2024 has been a fantastic year for Darts. A new generation of players has enjoyed fighting over increased prizemoney while entertaining fans in packed arenas. There have been record-breaking viewing figures, and bookmakers have reported unprecedented levels of betting interest.
Luke Littler is favourite to win the 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship. © Taylor Lanning/PDC
The sport’s newest and biggest star is Luke Littler. At the end of the 2023/24 season, while still 16, he was a little-known player ranked outside the world’s top 150. On January 3, the Cheshire native reached the final of the World Darts Championship, defying pre-event odds of 150/1.
Ten months later, Luke Littler picked up his first major TV ranking title at the Grand Slam of Darts 2024. It complimented ‘big stage’ 2024 victories in the Premier League, World Series of Darts Finals and an additional seven European Tour, World Series and Players Championship events.
Palace That Could See Littler Crowned King
Can the in-form teenager go one better in 2025 and take his first PDC World Darts Championship title? The UK’s best sports betting sites quote Littler on 2/1 odds. The betting suggests Luke Humphries is his most significant threat. The defending champion is priced on 10/3.
The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship is set to take place between December 15, 2024, and January 3, 2025. London’s Alexandra Palace has staged this prestigious event every year since 2008 and will be the host venue once again. Here is everything else you need to know about the forthcoming competition.
Qualification
The competition is open to 96 players. Thirty-two qualifiers from the ProTour Order of Merit and the 32 other players from various qualifying events will meet in the first round. The top 32 seeded players will await the winners in the second round, with the competition proceeding as a standard knockout.
Format
The tournament follows a set format where each set is the best of five legs. In the deciding set of all but first-round matches, the last set must be won by two clear legs unless the score reaches 5-5, leading to a sudden death leg.
First and second-round matches are ‘best of 5 sets’. Third and fourth-round matches are ‘best of 7 sets’. The quarter-finals are ‘best of 5 sets’ matches, the semi-finals are ‘best of 9 sets’, and the final is a race to seven sets – or ‘best of 13 sets’.
Prize Money
The total prize fund remains at £2.5 million in 2025, with £500,000 for the winner and £200,000 for the runner-up. Beaten semi-finalists will receive £100,000, and quarter-finalists £50,000. Even players eliminated in the first round will receive £7,500.
How Can I Watch the World Championship?
The event will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, covering every match on its dedicated Darts channel. International viewers can watch through regional broadcasters like DAZN and Fox Sports in Australia. The top online bookmakers will stream matches live, and, in the UK, there is radio commentary on talkSPORT 2.
In July, Sky Sports reported that Paddy Power World Darts Championship tickets had sold out before going on general sale. Prices for tickets to all sessions had ranged between £50 and £95.
When to Watch Darts’ World Championship
Every day has two sessions, with matches beginning at 12.30 pm and then at 7.30 pm. Sunday, December 15, is an exception, with just four first-round matches played in an evening session that starts at 7.00 pm. January 2 (semi-finals) and January 3 (final) will also be single-session days.
There is a break in play around the Christmas period, with no matches scheduled for December 24, 25, and 26. New Year’s Eve is also a blank day, with action resuming on New Year’s Day when the quarter-finals will be played.
World Darts Championship: Who Do the Bookies Like?
Luke Humphries beat Luke Littler in the final of last year’s World Championship. It was not child’s play, and the duo has dominated the sport since then. Combined, their prices suggest it is odds on one of this pair will take the title in 2025.
Michael van Gerwen has made the Word Championship final six times in the past dozen years, winning the competition three times. Understandably, the bookmakers are treating the Dutchman with caution, and he is the third favourite.
Gary Anderson is the only other player priced under 20/1. The 53-year-old won the competition in 2015 and 2016 but has slowly lost his form from 2019 onwards and dropped to 27 in the rankings by the end of 2023.
There has been clear evidence of a resurgence in recent months – notably a narrow 16-15 loss to Luke Littler in the semi-final of November’s Grand Slam of Darts. During his opening match in that tournament, the Scotsman’s three-dart average was a breathtaking 113.
Which World Championship Players Should Be Avoided?
Previous winners, Gerwyn Price (33/1), Peter Wright (80/1) and Raymond van Barneveld (150/1), cannot buy a victory. 2023 champion Michael Smith (33/1) did win the World Cup of Darts in June, but his form has tapered off since.
Rob Cross, who won the World Championship on his 2018 event debut, has shown remarkable consistency throughout the year, reaching four quarter-finals and a semi-final among the six ranked televised majors of 2024. Currently world-ranked 4, he could be a spot of betting value on 28/1 odds with a draw away from the ‘big two’ quite possible.
