World Darts Championship

PDC World Darts Championship News & Insights

Check out expert tips and insight into all things World Championship Darts. From expert analysis, to views and insight into out darts experts, We've got you covered. It's showtime!

Darts

2026 PDC World Darts Championship: Littler to go back-to-back?

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2025 GRAND SLAM OF DARTS TIPS: PRICE IS RIGHT FOR GERWYN?

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World Darts Championship Betting

The PDC World Championship is upon us.

Alexandra Palace is ready and, for the first time, 128 of the biggest names in darts battle it out to become world champion with Luke Littler preparing to defend his title after an incredible 2025.

The tournament gets underway on 11th December 2025 and culminates on 3rd January 2026, with thousands of fans set to descend on London to watch darts’ finest put on the sport's most famous show.

Here we break down the format of the tournament, show how you can place bets on the action and look at the history and past winners of the PDC World Darts Championship.

How to Place Bets on the PDC World Darts Championship

BetMGM has a wealth of markets available for the PDC World Darts Championship.

You can check out all of the available markets by heading over to the event page on our site.

Before you can place a bet on the World Championship you will need to log into, or create an account with, BetMGM.

Once you have signed in, or signed up to benefit from our Welcome Offer, you can start betting on the tournament.

As well as outright bets on the winner of the overall tournament, there are markets on individual games which allow you to build a bet on the match.

Selections include not only the match winner but under/over legs, number of 180s and highest checkout, among a range of others.

These selections can often be combined into a Bet Builder on one game or across several and combining selections across games can also be used to create multiple bets, such as an accumulator.

For a full breakdown of all of the available markets, head over to our dedicated PDC Darts World Championship page.

Format and Schedule

A total of 128 players will take part in the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace from 11th December until 3rd January.

The format is a straight knockout, with the winner of each tie progressing to the next round. The full schedule of the tournament is below:

Thursday 11th December – 4x first round matches
Friday 12th December – 8x first round matches
Saturday 13th December – 8x first round matches
Sunday 14th December – 8x first round matches
Monday 15th December – 8x first round matches
Tuesday 16th December – 8x first round matches
Wednesday 17th December – 4x first round matches
Thursday 18th December – 8x first round matches
Friday 19th December – 8x first round matches
Saturday 20th December – 8x second round matches
Sunday 21st December – 8x second round matches
Monday 22nd December – 8x second round matches
Tuesday 23rd December – 8x second round matches
Saturday 27th December – 6x third round matches
Sunday 28th December – 6x third round matches
Monday 29th December – 4x third round matches, 2x fourth round matches
Tuesday 30th December – 6x fourth round matches
Thursday 1st January – Quarter-finals
Friday 2nd January – Semi-finals
Saturday 3rd January – Final

How Does the Tournament Work?

All matches at the PDC World Darts Championship will be played in a straight-in, double-out format where the players win a leg by scoring 501.

The tournament is played with the set format, with three sets required to win a match in the first round, a mark that increases as the stages progress with the final first to seven.

In the first round, and in the non-deciding legs of further rounds, sets are played to the best of five legs. From the second round onwards the first player to win at least three legs of the deciding leg and lead by two or more wins the set and the match.

The sets required per round are outlined below:

First round – Best of five sets (first to three)
Second round – Best of five sets (first to three)
Third round – Best of seven sets (first to four)
Fourth round – Best of seven sets (first to four)
Quarter-finals – Best of nine sets (first to five)
Semi-finals – Best of 11 Sets (first to six)
Final – Best of 13 Sets (first to seven)

The top 40 players in the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualify for the competition and the top 32 are seeded in the draw, which is formed of four quarters. They are followed by the next 40 highest-ranked players on the one-year PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit.

All players enter in the first round of the 2026 edition, with the remaining 48 places going to international qualifiers.

Littler, last year’s winner, is the number one seed with 2024 champion Luke Humphries seeded second.

Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen is at number three despite struggling for form in the past year, while 2025 semi-finalist Stephen Bunting is number four.

Jonny Clayton, Danny Noppert, James Wade, Chris Dobey, Gerwyn Price and Gian van Veen complete the top 10 seedings for the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship.