2020 BDO World Championship Darts Betting Tips. Leaving Lakeside for the first time since 1985, the 2020 BDO World Darts Championship will this year take place at the O2 Arena complex in London, home to the PDC’s Darts Premier League Play-Offs, albeit in the Indigo nightclub, from January 4th-12th.

Following the split in World Darts back in the early 1990s, the best players headed from the British Darts Organisation and over to the newly formed Professional Darts Corporation. Backed by funding from sponsors and the TV broadcasters, the PDC continues to thrive by paying out bigger prize money and to be honest, it does have the better quality in its ranks.

The BDO, meanwhile, continues with a mix of throwers. Some are emerging talents looking to establish themselves on the circuit before having a crack at the more lucrative PDC while others are talented amateurs with careers outside of the game.

Having said that, the BDO World Championships, held at the start of January each year, still provides its fair share of high drama and, of course, there are many opportunities to find some value and hopefully make a profit from its darts betting markets.

History

With the sport of darts just starting to break out of the working men’s clubs of Britain to establish itself as a wider spectacle, the existing TV companies had started to offer wider coverage of major tournaments in the early 1970s. Surprisingly, however, there was no official world championship at that time so we had to wait until 1978 before such a tournament came into being.

That very first tournament was held at the Heart of the Midlands nightclub in Nottingham and was won by Leighton Rees of Wales. Rees was a top player at the start of the 1970s but that was to be his only world title as he gave way to players who would dominate the BDO worlds for the next few years.

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Bristow v Wilson

John Lowe won the 1979 renewal before the 1980s saw Eric Bristow take a near-monopoly on the tournament. The Crafty Cockney took his maiden BDO world crown in 1980 before mounting a successful defence a year later and at that time, only one man seemed to stand in his way.

Bristow enjoyed some incredible battles with the great Jocky Wilson and the Scot finally ended his rival’s run with victory in the 1982 competition. A solitary win for Keith Deller came in the 1983 final but Bristow began to assert his dominance once again. The Englishman won in three straight years from 1984 to 1986 and to this date, no-one has matched his tally of five BDO World Titles.

Famous Names

Bristow succumbed to an unfortunate bout of dartitis, allowing others to come through and make their name before the BDO - PDC split in 1993. Phil Taylor won the BDO title twice before switching codes and Raymond Van Barneveld also began to emerge, going on to claim four British Darts Organisation world crowns.

In the modern day, Scott Waites, Danny Noppert and Mark McGeeney are among the highest ranked BDO players in the game but it’s Glen Durrant who sits at the top of the pile in 2018, having won two successive World Championships.

BDO Darts Betting Options

Tournament Markets

The betting options for the BDO World Darts Championship are as comprehensive as you would find for any tournament in any code. In terms of the outright winner they are also released very early so punters should be able to stake in this market almost as soon as the previous edition finishes.

The amount of bookmakers issuing early prices is fairly restricted however so it may pay to wait until more get involved before committing to any outright bets.

Other Tournament Bets

Bettors should also be able to speculate as to whether there will be a 9 dart finish in any game in the BDO World Championships. Prices can be quite high for this and that’s because only one player has achieved this feat in the history of the competition - Paul Lim in 1990.

A maximum 170 check out market may also be available. This is more common but it doesn’t happen every year and in 2018 there was only one maximum checkout in the senior men’s competition from Darryl Fitton.

Match Betting

The BDO World Championships carries a shorter format than its PDC counterpart and is compacted into eight short days of action. It all starts with a set of first round games with 16 matches taking place in total. From there, we have the second round and then it’s on to the quarters, the semis and then the final itself.

For every one of those games, bookmakers will publish result betting and there will be all the usual side markets that you would associate with any darts event. Correct score betting is arguably the most popular of these and for the first round it’s the best of five legs so these are fairly easy to call, in contrast to later rounds.

Moving on, most 180’s, total 180s and the player to hit the first 180 are the bets relating to maximums and these also have an appeal, even though fewer bookmakers are starting to get involved at this point. Highest checkout, colour of first winning double and many more will be listed for all BDO World Championship games and there will be dozens of options to choose from.

Handicap betting should also be released by some of the bookmakers while darts is always a popular sport for the in-play community so you will never be short of a punt for the BDO Worlds.

Final Words

The BDO World Championships should also see a set of regular price boosts although many bookmakers will probably avoid listing these until we get to the final rounds of the competition. Certainly we should see these for the semis and for the final and there will often be promotions around too so look out for ways to grab some extra value.

It’s unfair to compare the BDO World Championships to the much richer PDC version but we all do it at certain times. Purely from a betting point of view, there are lots of options to be had in games that provide plenty of excitement so mark the dates in your calendar and get involved.

Barely has the excitement died down from the PDC World Championship Final at Alexandra Palace than we’re into the BDO World Championships.

There is a new venue for the less-exalted BDO version of the world title this year. The Lakeside at Frimley Green has been abandoned in favour of the Indigo at the O2 but organisers have sold only 15 per cent of the ticket allocation so that arena is going to sound very empty.

Bdo Darts Betting Tips

The lack of interest has led to worries that prize money, even at this late stage, may be greatly reduced with sponsors describing an association with the BDO as ‘toxic’. The BDO is very much the poor relation of the PDC and you can’t help thinking that the decision to move their world champonships away from the intimate surrounding of Lakeside could be a fatal error. However, the tour is still a stepping stone for players hoping to make their way in the PDC with Glenn Durant, the winner at Lakeside in the last three years, making the quarter-finals at Ally Pally recently.

However, the dramatic decrease in prize money has already lost this year’s tournament one of its big names. Fallon Sherrock, the odds-on favourite for the Ladies World Championship after her amazing run in the PDC World Championship, has withdrawn with the Ladies winner claiming just £8,000 this year compared to the £12,000 which Mikuru Suzuki received 12 months ago, despite previous claims that the prize fund would increase in 2020. The Men’s Prize Fund will take a sharp drop to £150,000 from £329,000.
BDO Darts Betting at Betfred

BDO World Championship Winners Since 1998

Men’s Draw

Preliminary Round

Justin Thompson v Scott Williams
Andreas Harrysson v John O’Shea
Paul Hogan v Brian Raman
David Cameron v Nick Fullwell
Gabriel Pascaru v Justin Hood
Darren Herewini v Simon Stainton
Joe Chaney v Ben Hazel
Thibault Tricole v Ross Montgomery

First Round

Wesley Harms (1) v A. Harrysson/J. O’Shea
Scott Waites (16) v Martin Adams
Willem Mandigers (8) v Michael Unterbuchner
Scott Mitchell (9) v Leighton Bennett
Wayne Warren (5) v J. Thompson/S. Williams
Andy Hamilton (12) v D. Herewini/S. Stainton
Dave Parletti (4) v Chris Landman
Gary Robson (13) v J. Chaney/B. Hazel
Jim Williams (2) v Gary Stone
Ryan Hogarth (15) v T. Tricole/R. Montgomery
Martijn Kleermaker (7) v Gino Vos
Adam Smith-Neale (10) v P. Hogan/B. Raman
Nick Kenny (6) v Dennie Olde Kalter
Mario Vandenbogaerde (11) v Sebastian Steyer
Richard Veenstra (3) v Pascaru/Hood
David Evans (14) v Cameron/Fullwell

Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams makes his return at the BDO World Darts Championship this year after surprisingly failing to qualify last year. But the three-times winner will face SCOTT WAITES in the first round.

Waites may be the 16th seed but he was the last player, before Durrant’s hat-trick, to win the BDO World Championship and was the losing finalist 12 months ago. The 42-year-old from Bradford looks well worth an interest at the general 10/1.

Bdo Getting Pets

Current BDO number one Wesley Harms of the Netherlands will face either Andreas Harrysson or World Masters champion John O’Shea in the first round. Sparky was twice a losing semi-finalist at Lakeside and is also a best 10/1 with William Hill.

BDO World Trophy winner Jim Williams takes on Gary Stone in round one and is the current 7/2 favourite with most major online bookmakers. A semi-finalist last year, he’s bidding to become the fourth Welshman in history to win the BDO World Championship but is not yet in the same league as the likes of Leighton Rees and Richie Burnett.

Bdo Women's Betting

Leighton Bennett is just 13 and will become the youngest player in BDO history to play in the Men’s World Championship when he faces Scott Mitchell. The teenager has already won the World Youth Championship this year and has been making waves across Europe since joining the senior tour. He’s only a best 20/1 to win the O2 tournament but is up against the 2015 winner in his first match – Mitchell is a general 12/1.

Richard Veenstra is a general 8/1 and the Dutchman was runner-up to Jim Williams in the BDO World Trophy earlier this year. However, he’s got a mixed record in the BDO World Championship and has twice gone out in the second round with thumping defeats.

BDO World Championship Current Best Odds

Jim Williams 7/2
Richard Veenstra 8/1
Wesley Harms and Scott Waites 10/1
Scott Mitchell 12/1
Michael Unterbuchner and Leighton Bennett 20/1
Dave Parletti 22/1
Martijn Kleermaker, Mario Vandenbogaerde, Paul Hogan and Dave Evans 25/1
Dave Evans, Wayne Warren and Nick Kenny 28/1
John O’Shea and Andy Hamilton 33/1
Adam Smith-Neale and Martin Adams 40/1
Gary Robson 50/1
66/1 and Upwards Others
(Odds correct at 9.30 am January 2)