2024-01-30

BetMGM Premier League Darts: Night 1 Preview & Tips

The opening night is so close to call as the 2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts campaign kicks off in Cardiff.

With eight of the world’s best players facing off over the course of the evening, resulting in a final at the end of the night, who can get their campaign off to the perfect start?

Before we look at the night’s action let’s remind ourselves of the 2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts format.

BetMGM Premier League Darts Format

The BetMGM Premier League will feature a nightly eight-person knockout bracket, where each of the seven matches will be played in a first-to-six-legs format. In the initial seven weeks, players are assured of facing one another once in the quarter-finals while a similar arrangement occurs in weeks 9-15.

The match-ups in weeks 8 and 16 are determined based on the league standings at those respective points. Players earn two points for reaching the semi-finals, three points for finishing runner-up and five points for winning the final.

After the league phase, the top four players in the standings will engage in two knockout semi-finals with the player in first place facing the player in fourth and the player in second taking on the player in third.

The eight darts players participating in the 2024 BetMGM Premier League are:

BetMGM Premier League Darts Night 1 Fixtures

The competition gets going at Cardiff’s Utilita Arena on Thursday 1st February with a showstopper of a fixture list.

Getting the evening underway is two-time world champion Peter Wright against 2018 world titlist Rob Cross while second up is Welsh former world number one Gerwyn Price as he looks to put on a show for his home crowd against 2023 World Matchplay winner Nathan Aspinall.

The final two games of the quarter-finals see a repeat of the last two PDC World Championship finals as 2023 champion Michael Smith takes on seven-time Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen before new kid on the block Luke Littler takes on current world champion Luke Humphries in a repeat of the 2024 final.

Night 1 quarter-finals in full:

Peter Wright vs Rob Cross;
Gerwyn Price vs Nathan Aspinall;
Michael van Gerwen vs Michael Smith;
Luke Littler vs Luke Humphries

7/1 BetMGM Premier League Night 1 Accumulator

To kick off our Night 1 acca we are backing Rob Cross to beat Peter Wright at 4/11, with Cross winning 13 of the last 20 meetings between the pair.

Next up, Gerwyn Price will be looking to give the Cardiff crowd something to shout about and we’ve gone with the home support to help fire the Welshman to a sixth straight victory over Nathan Aspinall on our acca at 12/25.

If you fancy him to go a couple of steps further, Price is currently 9/2 with BetMGM to repeat his Cardiff feat from last year and win the Night 1 tournament overall.

Fresh from a record-breaking 914 tournament 180s in the 2024 PDC World Championship, we are backing over 6.5 180s at 6/5 for Michael van Gerwen’s match-up with Michael Smith. The last two meetings between them have contained seven and ten 180s across a first-to-seven-legs format respectively while Van Gerwen will be full of confidence after winning the Dutch Darts Masters in the lead-up to this one.

The final match of the quarter-finals could be an epic one as the two Lukes – Littler and Humphries – battle it out.

With nothing to separate them in the match odds, we’re going for a close game with little margin for error and our pick of over 9.5 total legs at 4/5 could make for an enthralling game as Littler looks to double up on his revenge for the World Championship final defeat following his 6-5 win over Humphries at the Dutch Darts Masters at the weekend.

Night 1 Accumulator:

Rob Cross to beat Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price to beat Nathan Aspinall
Michael van Gerwen v Michael Smith over 6.5 match 180s
Luke Humphries v Luke Littler over 9.5 legs

Priced at 7/1 with BetMGM

Add our accumulator to your betslip here

Odds correct at time of publication but subject to change

Read more and get the latest odds on our dedicated BetMGM Premier League Darts Hub

BetMGM Golden Arrows

You can check out various BetMGM Premier League Darts markets, including outright tournament winner, the winner of each night’s play and specials such as 180s, 170 checkouts and nine-darters as well as build a bet featuring a host of different selections from the games throughout the evening.

Don’t forget – darts fans have the chance to double their winnings on any BetMGM Premier League Darts market weekly with our show-stopping Golden Arrows offer.

Before the tournament this means a 100% profit boost on the outright winner and during the tournament you will receive a weekly boost on any BetMGM Premier League Darts market. Read more about Golden Arrows here.

The 2024 BetMGM Premier League promises to be an exhilarating battle of some of the best players in the world, with 17 weeks of intense sporting action almost upon us.

It’s showtime!

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