Darts originated in the 1300s when soldiers started vying with each other in their downtime, throwing their cut-down arrows at the round cross-section of a tree. These origins are echoed by the rings that shaped the elmwood darts board, first formalized by Brian Gamlin in 1896. Since the 1930s sisal fibres have been used. The early wooden darts with their metal barrel is now tungsten, allowing a thinner dart for tighter groupings.
The first national tournament was in 1927. Popular through both world wars, and further boosted by television – a record eight million viewers watched Keith Deller win the final of the World Championship in 1983. A year later Lowe scored the first televised nine-dart finish.
In 1992 a split from the British Darts Organization (BDO, 1973) resulting in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), which is now the dominating forum. Officially designated as a sport in 1908, the Irish pub game has since evolved to became a professional sport, with tournaments run by the PDC. The first Women’s World Championship in 2001.
The Alexandra Palace in London has became the PDC World Dart Championships global arena since 2008.
The most typical competitive game is 501: Players deduct their points from 501, aiming for exactly zero. Playing with three darts each turn, the final dart must be a “double out” to win (a double 16), or a bullseye (50/double 25).
Each game is a Leg, with the whole match making a Set. The first to reach 3, 5, or 7 Legs wins the Set. Mostly run by the PDC, some top annual tournaments include:
PDC World Darts Championships, at Alexandra Palace, (Dec-Jan), the most prestigious event
World Matchplay
Premier League Darts for the eight top players
Grand Slam of Darts
World Grand Prix with double-in, double-out
UK Open, or the FA Cup of Darts
European Championship
Players Championship Finals
Luke Littler is a darts phenomenon, given credit for the “Littler Effect” or “Littlermania”, and the youngest ever to become a world number 1 ranked player. He has made darts history through his astonishing achievements which have inspired a whole new generation of darts enthusiasts, the Tiger Woods of darts.
He started playing darts at just 18 months old, and won the PDC World Championships twice, in 2025 at just 17 years old and the youngest ever, and again in 2026 – plus 11 major PDC titles, 24 titles in total.
He entered the professional circuit in 2022 at 15, and won the PDC World Youth Championship in 2023, together with five titles on the PDC Development Tour. In 2024 at 16 he made a stunning debut into the PDC World Championships with the odds of 66/1 against, reaching the final against Luke Humphries, and three PDC titles including the Premier League. In 2025 he won 6 out of the 10 majors including his maiden World Championship and the World Matchplay, and the youngest Grand Slam winner.
His biggest impact may have been in generating renewed interest in darts, especially after being named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2024, and gaining an MBE in 2025.
With the vamped-up interest in darts through Littlermania, new fans are flocking to the exciting world of darts betting.
Odds are simply an expression of the probability of an outcome. Higher odds reflect a less likely outcome (and potential bigger wins) than lower odds. Fractional and decimal odds are different ways of saying the same thing. The more that a certain outcome is bet on, the lower the odds become.
Fractional Odds: More popular in the UK and Ireland, fractional odds show what you’ll win vs your bet – if you are right. Odds of 4/1, said 5 to 1, mean that for every €1 you bet, a win would put €4 extra in your pocket plus your bet returned. In this case, a win on a €10 bet would mean €40 profit, plus your wager back, making the payout €50. Your profit would be €4.
Decimal Odds: Used in preference in Australia, Canada and Europe, this number says how you’re your payout would be – so it includes the return of your bet. 5.00 means that for a €10 you would get a payout of €50.
Odds of 1/1 = 2.00, even money – bet €1, win €1 plus your bet.
2/1 = 3.00 – you would double your money on a win.
1/2 or “odds on” would be half your bet extra – €1.50 paid out.
5/2 or 3.50 would give you €3.50 including your bet.
5/1 or 6.00 would give you €1 extra, so €6 returned.
The less likely an outcome, the bigger your winnings if there’s a win. This will be reflected by bigger odds:- when Littler made his debut in the PDC World Championships, the odds were 66/1. It wasn’t expected he would do anywhere near as well as he did. If he had won, a €10 bet would have paid back €670.
There are several markets specific to darts betting. Some of the more popular markets are as follows:
Match Winner – or moneyline is a simple bet on who will win.
Highest Checkout – a prediction as to which player will score the highest (maximum 170) in one three-dart combo to complete a Leg.
Correct Score – a correct prediction of the final score in the Set or any of the Legs.
Most 180s – or an over/under bet. This is a bet on how many times the maximum score will be reached in a particular Set. The maximum is three treble 20s, hence the “Most 180s” or Total “180s”.
Handicap Betting – If the margin is too great, bookies hedge by giving a player an advantage (eg +1.5 Legs), or a disadvantage (-1.5 Legs). This happens when there’s a strong favourite, to encourage betting by offering bigger returns.
Nine-Dart Finish – a bet on whether a perfect Leg will be played. A perfect Leg is a win on a 501 game with the minimum number of darts – that is, just 3 darts 3 times over, mostly involving treble 20s. This is a rare and extremely difficult achievement.
The odds can change after each throw, keeping the game exciting and making in-play betting increasingly popular.
Now that you understand how the game works and how to interpret betting on darts, join Littlermania and dive into darts betting sites. Be a part of the “Littler Effect” and enter the gateway to great darts betting markets.