Gary Anderson

World Grand Prix 2024: Darts betting tips, preview and predictions for the Sky Sports-televised major in Leicester

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Fri October 11, 2024 · 2M ago

The double-start Boylesports World Grand Prix takes place in Leicester from October 7-13 - live on Sky Sports - and our expert Chris Hammer brings you his preview and best bets.

Darts betting tips: World Grand Prix

1pt Gary Anderson to win the World Grand Prix at 12/1 (Sky Bet, BetVictor, Boylesports)

0.5pts each-way Stephen Bunting to win the World Grand Prix at 40/1 (BetVictor 1/2 1,2)

1pt Bunting and Anderson to win their quarters at 33/1 (Sky Bet)

0.5pts each-way Chris Dobey to win the World Grand Prix at 33/1 (Ladbrokes 1/2 1,2)

0.5pts each-way Dave Chisnall to win the World Grand Prix at 25/1 (Sky Bet, Ladbrokes 1/2 1,2)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

The PDC's double-start major returns in Leicester for its 27th staging as Luke Humphries bids to become only the third different player ever to defend the title.

Twelve months ago, Cool Hand powered his way to a first major crown and since then he's remarkably added a further four to his rapidly growing tally including the World Championship and World Matchplay - as well as reaching the finals of the UK Open and Premier League.

Humphries is now about to embark on a tour of putting his biggest trophies on the line and this might be one of the toughest to keep hold of.

Whereas 11-time champion Phil Taylor was able to successfully defend his crown on five separate occasions, Michael van Gerwen only managed it once despite lifting the trophy six times from 2012 to 2022. In the years Taylor failed to win it, he didn't even reach the final - and MVG only finished runner-up once, to Robert Thornton.

This shows how even the best players of all time could be 'troubled' (relatively speaking!) by this format compared to the other majors where they'd each enjoy ridiculous winning streaks stretching many editions.

The best of three sets opening round is particularly dicey but generally speaking once you've negotiated that hurdle, the strongest all-round players should be the ones battling it out for the trophy come October 13.

As usual, I'll run through each section of this year's draw before picking out potential champions...

Quarter one

(1) Luke Humphries v Stephen Bunting
Raymond van Barneveld v Ricardo Pietreczko
(8) Jonny Clayton v Ritchie Edhouse
Gian van Veen v Ross Smith

Odds to win the quarter: Humphries 6/5, Smith 5/1, Clayton 13/2, Bunting 13/2, Van Veen 9/1, Barney 12/1, Edhouse 12/1, Pietreczko 16/1

If Luke Humphries is to defend his World Grand Prix crown then he'll need to make a flying start after being handed a nightmare first-round draw against Stephen Bunting.

The Bullet was runner-up in all three Players Championship events this past week to take his season tally to five losing finals since winning the Masters back in February - and the third opponent to deny him that maiden ProTour title of the campaign on Thursday was none other than Humphries.

Bunting averaged marginally higher with 96 and led 7-6 before Cool Hand snatched the last two legs so there are still plenty of reasons for him to feel confident despite the lack of winners' cheques. To win 18 out of 21 across three events in one week is a staggering effort and shows a lot of mental strength and consistency. He averaged over 100 on eight occasions - including four in the most recent tournament - and only dropped below 90 once. He was pretty much 95 or above all the time.

Humphries had been struggling to produce his best form across all competitions since the start of September. Relatively speaking of course. He was still averaging over 100 in around a third of his matches but there were plenty of beatable performances in there, hence why his last final had come back on the World Series tour in August.

Without discrediting the other six players in this quarter - especially Ross Smith who has the scoring power to claw himself back into legs that he starts poorly in - I feel the winner will come from this top match and on value grounds I'm giving the nod to Bunting.

The Masters champion, who is playing too well to be as big as 40/1, won't be happy with the draw either but as well as his seasonal form, he can also take encouragement from his record at the World Grand Prix, where he's reached the semi-finals twice and also avoided a first-round exit in his last four appearances.

Should Bunting do what he's well capable of and dethrone the defending champion before coming through this section, I'd genuinely fancy his chances against anyone from the second quarter, even Luke Littler.

For that reason I'm backing him each-way for the title rather than the safer option of the quarter.

CLICK HERE to back Bunting to win the title with Sky Bet

Verdict: Bunting to win the quarter

Quarter two

(4) Rob Cross v Luke Littler
Brendan Dolan v Martin Schindler
(5) Nathan Aspinall v Ryan Searle
Josh Rock v Ryan Joyce

Odds to win the quarter: Littler 5/4, Cross 11/2, Searle 11/2, Rock 13/2, Schindler 15/2, Aspinall 15/2, Joyce 18/1, Dolan 20/1

Luke Littler has made a habit of winning on tournament debuts this season so it's no surprise to see him priced up as favourite to lift the World Grand Prix trophy at the first attempt.

You can't even expect him to be fazed or ruffled by the double-format nature of this event considering how coolly he deals with any challenge that lies in his path.

The 17-year-old has won more titles than anyone this season with eight, including the Premier League and the World Series of Darts Finals, although his early exit to Michael van Gerwen at the World Matchplay did at least make him look human.

He opens up against a player he's beaten in seven out of their eight meetings and also has a woeful World Grand Prix record.

Rob Cross has won just two matches in seven previous appearances in this event and crashed out in the first round of the previous two editions against Daryl Gurney and Andrew Gilding so you have to wonder if things will ever click for him in double start darts.

Maybe being a big underdog will help take the pressure off somewhat and allow Voltage to play to the high standards we've seen from him on a consistent basis this season.

Martin Schindler will be a tough test for the winner should the Recent Swiss Darts Championship winner overcome Brendan Dolan while Josh Rock and Ryan Searle have also displayed shoots of good form in recent weeks.

Nevertheless I'd still expect Littler to justify favouritism in this section and set up a cracking semi-final with either Humphries or Bunting.

Verdict: Littler to win the quarter

Quarter three

(2) Michael Smith v Gary Anderson
Mike De Decker v Damon Heta
(7) Gerwyn Price v Danny Noppert
Peter Wright v James Wade

Odds to win the quarter: Price 11/4, Anderson 7/2, Smith 9/2, Wright 13/2, Heta 15/2, Wade 9/1, Noppert 10/1, De Decker 20/1

The World Grand Prix is one of the few major trophies that Gary Anderson hasn't lifted in his illustrious career and also one of the many that he's been a runner-up in.

The Flying Scotsman has reached the final of all 10 big televised individual events up for grabs these days (and I'm even including the World Series of Darts Finals to inflate the figure even more) but he hasn't done so since the 2021 World Championship.

This could just be down to mental stamina at the age of 53 - especially in the longer format majors - because based on ability, talent levels and seasonal statistics, he can still compete with anyone on the circuit.

In fact his seasonal average of 99.55 in all competitions is higher than anyone else this season and he comes into the World Grand Prix pretty fresh and raring to go having spent the back end of the summer away from the tour doing some exhibition work and other projects.

His first appearance in two months towards the end of September resulted in him picking up his third Pro Tour title of the campaign with a daily average of 100.23 across his three matches and since then he's won 11 of his 14 matches in which he averaged over 100 on eight occasions.

Three of those have sailed above 110, including an astonishing 114.41 in a 6-2 thumping of Luke Humphries this week, so if he was 10 years younger he'd probably be favourite and bordering on unstoppable.

In fact, he's averaged over 100 in 45 of his 82 matches this season which is a much higher ratio (0.54) than anyone else on the planet. For context, Humphries and Littler are next with around 0.44!

I haven't contemplated backing Anderson for years based on energy levels but I just wonder if his relaxed 'carefree' mindset is responsible for these insane levels of performance and whether he can bottle it up for one match per day at the Grand Prix.

There's a hell of a lot of major-winning experience in this quarter with Michael Smith, Peter Wright, James Wade and even Danny Noppert but if anything, that will help keep the pressure off and that's when he's at his most dangerous.

He's very short price for the quarter so I'll roll the dice on each-way for the title.

CLICK HERE to back Anderson to win the title with Sky Bet

CLICK HERE to back Bunting and Anderson to win their quarters with Sky Bet

Verdict: Anderson to win the quarter

Quarter four

(3) Michael van Gerwen v Daryl Gurney
Chris Dobey v Joe Cullen
(6) Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies
Luke Woodhouse v Dimitri Van den Bergh

Odds to win the quarter: MVG 13/8, Chisnall 5/1, Dobey 11/2, VDB 6/1, Menzies 9/1, Gurney 14/1, Cullen 14/1, Woodhouse 16/1

Regular readers of my previews will now be rolling their eyes out of the back of their heads as I mention Dave Chisnall, especially because I recently declared that the World Series of Darts Finals was the last event I’d tip him up for.

However, that was more of a glorified exhibition so I’m doing a bit of a U-turn and vowing that this, instead, is last time I put him forward to win a genuine major (for the foreseeable future at least).

Just when all my faith runs out that he’ll break his major duck, he pops up and adds another non-televised title to his incredible career tally of 26 – not to mention four in the calendar year.

He’s winning titles in front of big, noisy crowds on the European Tour – which do have cameras there for streaming and online coverage – so I just can’t accept that the whole TV thing is a factor.

If it was just those deathly quiet (apart from when James Wade breaks wind) floor events that he wins while always failing on the stage, then I’d understand it.

But this is a legend who has now reached FIFTY PDC finals in all competitions, including six majors.

Apart from a marginal 11-9 defeat to Joe Cullen in the 2022 Masters final, they’ve all come up against a peak Phil Taylor or a peak Michael van Gerwen, so he’s been unfortunate rather than a choker.

His continued form and title success away from TV means he’s climbed back up as high as fifth in the world rankings. Chizzy is actually playing as well as ever and his whole body language and interviews seem a lot more confident – in his own unique affable way.

Chisnall's average of 97 since the start of September - which was bumped up by four more 100+ averages across his 11 matches this week - shows a high level of recent consistency while his record in the World Grand Prix was very strong until a couple of shocking first-round exits in the past two years.

CLICK HERE to back Chisnall to win the title with Sky Bet

Cameron Menzies is a dangerous opening test and if he's to get out of this quarter and challenge for this title then he'll probably need to take care of either Michael van Gerwen or Chris Dobey in the last eight.

As well as MVG played when winning his first two ranking titles of the season last month, I think there's just too many signs of fragility to be confident of backing him at such short prices.

Dobey, on the other hand, is a lot more tempting at 33/1 to go all the way after another fine season so far.

Hollywood is fractionally below MVG at sixth on the seasonal averages list with 97.35 and has backed these statistics up with results having reached five Pro Tour finals in 2024 and winning three of them including one as recently as Wednesday against Stephen Bunting.

Apart from winning the Masters at the start of 2023, his major record over the past two seasons has been characterised by a catalogue of quarter-final runs - and we all know what happened to him at the World Championship. He's recovered so well from that implosion and now is the time to put the record straight on the big stage.

Double start darts is close to his heart having grown up in Northumberland where the format is played a lot more than in other areas of the country, and he's demonstrated this 'advantage' by reaching the semi-final on debut back in 2019 as well as reaching the last eight in 2022 and 2023.

I believe he'll have the measure of MVG if their paths cross and should he meet Chisnall in the quarters, it would be tough to call and I'd want them both onside for a run at the title.

CLICK HERE to back Dobey to win the title with Sky Bet

Verdict: Chisnall or Bunting to win the quarter

World Grand Prix: Best odds to win title

4/1 - Luke Littler
9/2 - Luke Humphries
6/1 - Michael van Gerwen
12/1 - Gary Anderson
14/1 - Gerwyn Price
20/1 - Michael Smith
25/1 - Dave Chisnall
33/1 - Ross Smith, Rob Cross, Chris Dobey
40/1 - Damon Heta, Ryan Searle, Peter Wright, Stephen Bunting, Josh Rock
50/1 - Jonny Clayton, Nathan Aspinall, Danny Noppert
55/1 - Dimitri Van den Bergh
66/1 - Gian van Veen, Martin Schindler
80/1 - James Wade, Cameron Menzies
100/1 - Joe Cullen, Daryl Gurney
150/1 - Raymond van Barneveld, Brendan Dolan, Mike De Decker
175/1 - Ryan Joyce
200/1 - Ritchie Edhouse, Ricardo Pietreczko, Luke Woodhouse

Click here for all Sky Bet's World Grand Prix odds

2024 World Grand Prix Schedule

Monday October 7 (1800 BST)
First Round (Best of 3 sets)

Josh Rock v Ryan Joyce
Brendan Dolan v Martin Schindler
Jonny Clayton v Ritchie Edhouse
Nathan Aspinall v Ryan Searle
Raymond van Barneveld v Ricardo Pietreczko
Luke Humphries v Stephen Bunting
Rob Cross v Luke Littler
Gian van Veen v Ross Smith

Tuesday October 8 (1800 BST)
First Round (Best of 3 sets)

Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies
Luke Woodhouse v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Mike De Decker v Damon Heta
Peter Wright v James Wade
Gerwyn Price v Danny Noppert
Michael Smith v Gary Anderson
Michael van Gerwen v Daryl Gurney
Chris Dobey v Joe Cullen

Wednesday October 9 (1900 BST)
Second Round matches (Best of 5 sets)

Humphries/Bunting v Van Barneveld/Pietreczko
Clayton/Edhouse v Van Veen/R Smith
Cross/Littler v Dolan/Schindler
Aspinall/Searle v Rock/Joyce

Thursday October 10 (1900 BST)
Second Round matches (Best of 5 sets)

M Smith/Anderson v De Decker/Heta
Price/Noppert v Wright/Wade
Van Gerwen/Gurney v Dobey/Cullen
Chisnall/Menzies v Woodhouse/Van den Bergh

Friday October 11 (1900 BST)
Quarter-Finals (Best of seven sets)

Four matches

Saturday October 12 (2030 BST)
Semi-Finals (Best of seven sets)

Two matches

Sunday October 13 (2000 BST)
Final (Best of nine sets)

Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

What TV channel is the World Grand Prix on?

The BoyleSports World Grand Prix will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).

World Grand Prix Prize Money

Winner - £120,000
Runner-up - £60,000
Semi-finalists - £40,000
Quarter-finalists - £25,000
Second round - £15,000
First round - £7,500

Tournament Format

All Sets are the best of five legs. There will be no tie-break in any set.
All legs must begin and end with a double, meaning that a player must hit a double before he can begin scoring in each leg.
First Round - Best of three sets
Second Round - Best of five sets
Quarter-Finals - Best of five sets
Semi-Finals - Best of seven sets
Final - Best of nine sets