Blackpool will welcome PDC stars for the 2025 World Matchplay this week. It’s one of the biggest events of the year with a strong 32-man field. Here are our 2025 PDC World Matchplay predictions and analysis.
The World Matchplay returns to the Empress Ballroom at Winter Gardens, Blackpool, for its 32nd edition on July 19. The £800,000 competition will go on for eight days and award the winner with a £200,000 paycheck. We will get to our darts tips for World Matchplay 2025 soon, but before that, let’s have a look at some key details of the competition.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | 2025 Betfred World Matchplay |
| 🎯 Venue: | Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England |
| 🗓️ Dates: | Saturday, July 19 to Sunday, July 27, 2025 |
The tournament started in 1994, and all previous editions were held in the same venue. In the original format, which lasted until 2012, players needed to win by a minimum two-leg margin.
The first player to reach 10 legs would win in the first round, but if the score reached 9–9, play continued until one player established a two-leg lead. As you can imagine, that often led to marathon encounters.
PDC revised the format in 2013, and it has been unchanged since then. There is now a cut-off phase. If players can’t be separated after six extra legs, the tie moves into a sudden-death scenario. That means sudden death comes into play if a first-round tie hits 12-all.
World Matchplay has been around for more than three decades now, and throughout its run, the competition has crowned 13 different champions. Phil Taylor won the competition a record 16 times. After his retirement, PDC honored the “Power” by naming the World Matchplay trophy after him.
Darts 2025 World Matchplay odds have gone live across sportsbooks. Here are the top favorites to conquer Blackpool:
Sportsbooks with darts betting options online are considering Littler as the safest pick to bet on the 2025 Darts World Matchplay. Even though Littler has been in sensational form over the past couple of seasons, he has never won the World Matchplay title. Bettors, however, should know that only three of the 13 World Matchplay champions were repeat winners.
Humphries comes to Blackpool as the defending champion. So, he should heavily feature in predictions for the PDC 2025 World Matchplay. We should also mention that he is the current World No.1.
Bookies in UK for sports are not underestimating Gerwyn Price’s form. The Welshman is a tempting pick as he comes off a successful Baltic Sea Darts Open title run.
Rock has made it to at least the last 32 in each of his three previous World Matchplay appearances, and he arrives in solid form after a run to the last 16 at the Masters. He also led Northern Ireland to its first-ever World Cup title.
Michael van Gerwen is one of the three World Matchplay champions who have won the competition multiple times. The Dutchman has not been in great form lately, but it’s tough to ignore his experience.
After going through the available odds and markets across the top bookmakers, we have decided on the following three 2025 PDC World Matchplay predictions:
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Luke Littler leads the way in the outright betting, and rightly so, as he sets his sights on adding another major title to his rapidly expanding resume. It’s been a season to savor for ‘The Nuke’, who has added the World Championship, Grand Slam, and UK Open to his growing list of accolades: only a Premier League defeat to Luke Humphries denied him a clean sweep.
If Littler brings his A-game to Blackpool, there’s little doubt he’ll be the man to beat. His scoring power is unrivalled when he hits top gear, and if he finds that rhythm here, the rest of the field should be on high alert. He opens his campaign against Ryan Searle, a player who has struggled under the spotlight but still presents an awkward challenge. A strong showing here should slash his odds even further.
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Luke Humphries and Luke Littler have been the most dominant duo in the world of darts in recent times. Since the 2025 World Matchplay Darts draw made this final matchup possible, it’s been the title showdown fans have been hoping for, and all signs suggest it is on the cards.
Littler has bagged the UK Open this year after a landmark 2024 campaign that saw him winning the World Series, Premier League, and Grand Slam. Ranked world No. 2 and banking more than £1 million over the last two seasons, only Humphries is going toe-to-toe with him in both form and finances.
Their recent battles have been razor-close. They have shown little mercy to other competitors in most cases, but the encounters between these two have been nail-biters, which makes this match-up even more desirable for a final meeting.
Unless Van Gerwen finds his top form again, it’s tough to imagine anyone knocking them off before the final. Price, Anderson, and Aspinall might be formidable challengers, but over such a lengthy format, consistency usually carries the day, and nobody has been more consistent lately than these two.
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Rock has been in fine form recently. He clinched a Players Championship title before teaming up with Daryl Gurney to deliver a historic World Cup of Darts win for Northern Ireland.
Rock has quickly cemented his place among the world’s top 20 and appears to be peaking at just the right moment. His first-round opponent, Ross Smith, is a tricky opponent and has a reputation for powerful scoring.
Getting past that test would put Rock on course for a deep run in the tournament, and we believe he has what it takes to win the fourth quarter ahead of Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen.
We are expecting Littler to win his maiden World Matchplay title and get past his arch-nemesis Humphries in the final.
