2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship outright predictions, preview & betting tips: Rob Cross ready to light up the Ally Pally stage

Paddy Power are offering new customers £40 in free bets for the World Darts Championship. You can grab your free bet here. 

We’ve included further instructions on how to grab your offer later on in this article.

When does the PDC World Darts Championship start?

The  PDC World Darts Championship will begin on Friday, December 15, 2023 and concludes on Wednesday, January 3, 2024.

Where can I watch the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship? 

Every single match of the PDC World Darts Championship will be shown on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland.

What is the draw for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship?

Click here for more info on the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship draw

2024 PDC World Darts Championship best bets

R Cross to win the World Darts Championship
1pt each-way 16-1 general

S Bunting to win third quarter
1pt 9-1 general

G Anderson to win second quarter & L Humphries to win fourth quarter
1pt double 8.17-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

L Woodhouse to reach quarter-final
1pt 14-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

R Smith to reach quarter-final
1pt 5-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

P Wright to reach quarter-final
1pt 11-8 Betfair, Paddy Power

G Price stage of elimintion - round four
1pt 11-4 Betfair, Paddy Power

A female player to reach round two
2pts Evs Paddy Power

Over 4.5 tournament 170 checkouts
3pts 4-5 BoyleSports

R Cross most tournament 180s
1pt each-way 33-1 BoyleSports

Bet on the World Darts Championship here and get £40 in free bets from Paddy Power

2024 PDC World Darts Championship predictions

There are any number of questions being asked by punters as they pore over the prices in what looks to be a wide-open Paddy Power World Darts Championship starting at Alexandra Palace on Friday.

Is this the year that Michael van Gerwen gets back in the winner's enclosure after a four-year absence?

Can Michael Smith rediscover the magic that saw him claim his maiden title 12 months ago?

Has Peter Wright lost his sparkle for good and can Gerwyn Price silence the boo-boys who last year forced him into wearing ear covers?

And perhaps trickiest of all, can Luke Humphries, unquestionably the big noise on the 2023 PDC Tour, cope with being favourite to win the biggest prize in darts, one he has never won before?

Steve Davies's best bets for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship

The story lines are fascinating and here's another question to ponder. Can Rob Cross turn back the clock six years and win the world crown for a second time? And my answer to that one is a very definite yes.

Number eight seed Cross has said he is happy with his form – Voltage insists he hasn't played as well as he is now since he lifted the trophy in 2018 – and he shouldn't be unhappy with his draw.

He's in the top quarter where the major winners and major dangers are the likes of champion Smith and Jonny Clayton, though neither is anywhere near the top of his game at the moment.

But this is all about Cross, the 33-year-old having produced some stellar darts in 2023 to win on the Pro Tour, the European Tour plus at two World Series events, one in Australia, the other New Zealand.

And on top of that Cross has been producing in the big, televised events this autumn, including a run to the Grand Slam final where a 103 average wasn't enough to land a mark on the man of the moment, Luke Humphries.

And being in the opposite half of the draw to Humphries looks a real bonus right now.

Cross knows how to win a world championship which is something Cool Hand Luke has yet to do.

Having said that, he is favourite for a reason having reeled off three majors this autumn to go with yet another European Tour success and a pair of Players Championship successes.

At the very least Humphries ought to win his quarter and he is worth backing in a quarters double with Gary Anderson, who can roll back the years on a stage where he has triumphed before.

The Flying Scotsman should be able to ease into the tournament by seeing off Simon Whitlock and, probably, Keegan Brown given 12th seed Dirk van Duijvenbode's health problems.

Then would come a fourth-round duel with Price, who will have to take on the crowd as well as the Scot and this is an atmosphere in which the Welshman struggles to shine.

There are obviously a few ifs and buts in there but Anderson is chucking some supreme tungsten at the moment and if he could play and see off Price, he would surely be fancied to overwhelm any of Wright, Raymond van Barneveld, James Wade or even boy wonder Luke Littler in the quarters.

Snakebite is being written off far too hastily, incidentally, and working on the mantra that class is permanent but form is temporary , the two-time champ can make the last eight.

Two other players worth backing to reach the quarters are Ross Smith at 5-1 in the top eighth – too good a player not to be factored in – and Luke Woodhouse at a fancy price to win the eighth where Josh Rock and Damon Heta are the big guns.

Woody has reached a Pro Tour final this year and the last eight of the recent Players Championship Finals, helping to give him the belief that has been the only ingredient missing.

Back to players throwing as well as ever brings us to Stephen Bunting, the former BDO world champ, who can dot up in quarter three by outlasting Van Gerwen among others.

Queen of the Palace could thrill subjects once more

Fallon Sherrock could enjoy another memorable trip to Ally PallyCredit: Jordan Mansfield

It's Ladies Night on Sunday - and again on Tuesday - and the feeling's right that one of Fallon Sherrock or Mikuru Suzuki can deliver a first-round upset at Alexandra Palace.

Punters might want to keep their cool and gang up on Jermaine Wattimena and Ricardo Pietreczko as the pair of them strive to avoid being upstaged.

It's evens that either Wattimena loses to Sherrock or Pietreczko loses to Suzuki and the two ladies could not have hand-picked more vulnerable opponents.

Our last sighting of Pietreczko on TV was melting under a barrage from Beau Greaves and the crowd at the Grand Slam in Wolverhampton, and the stage at Alexandra Palace can be a lonely place when the world's against you. And it's Pikachu's debut – he really doesn't know what he's in for.

Wattimena has been to the Palace before but he's a million miles away from the player he once was and Sherrock has to be confident of taking on the Dutchman.

One of the abiding memories of 12 months ago was Gerwyn Price struggling with the Ally Pally crowd, so much that he reached for the ear protectors to shut out the noise against Gabriel Clemens. It didn't do him any good because he lost.

And if the anti-Price masses are giving him a hard time against a German then heaven knows what kind of torment they are going to put him through should he – as is highly likely – meet crowd favourite Gary Anderson in round four.

Anderson's probably got the measure of the Iceman anyway, but the 11-4 that Price exits the tournament at that stage looks good.

The 170 checkout, once a real rarity before the development of dart boards made for bigger landing areas, is now commonplace.

Over the last four years total 170s have made up at 8-7-4-6, suggesting that going over the 4.5 mark for this year's event could be a wise move.

If Rob Cross does, as tipped, get to the final then it follows he'll rack up plenty of 180s which makes BoyleSports' 33-1 that he tops the maximums chart a hugely enticing each-way offer.

Make the most of your £40 Paddy Power free bet: all of our World Darts Championship tips

With Paddy Power giving away £40 in darts free bets, you might feel spoilt for choice. 

Here are some betting tips for the World Darts Championship that you may want to consider:

R Cross to win the World Darts Championship at 16-1 with Paddy Power

S Bunting to win third quarter at 9-1 with Paddy Power

G Anderson to win second quarter & L Humphries to win fourth quarter at 8-1 with Paddy Power

L Woodhouse to reach quarter-final at 14-1 with Paddy Power

R Smith to reach quarter-final at 5-1 with Paddy Power

P Wright to reach quarter-final at 11-8 with Paddy Power

*Note that these odds are subject to change

Grab a £40 Paddy Power free bet on the 2023 World Darts Championship

We’ve already mentioned that Paddy Power are offering a £40 free bet for the World Darts Championship.

Well, you can follow these simple steps outlined below to grab your £40 free bet to place on the on the World Darts Championship. It's fast, secure and straightforward.

• Head over to Paddy Power through this link and click the Join button on their homepage
• Create your username and password
• Make a deposit of £10 or more using a card & place a bet on a sportsbook market with odds of 1-2 or greater
• You will be rewarded with £40 of free bet tokens added to your balance

Paddy Power World Darts Championship betting sign-up offer: terms and conditions

It's worth taking a few minutes to read through the terms and conditions associated with the new player promotion before signing up. Doing so will help you get a better grasp of the details of the Paddy Power betting offer and what's expected of you as a new player.

• New UK & ROI customers only
• Minimum deposit £10 bet at minimum odds of 1-2 to qualify 
• Get £40 in free bets, valid for 30 days
• SMS verification required
• Bets placed on Greyhound racing markets are excluded
• Only deposits via cards will qualify

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