Darts betting: Wales favored to win World Cup of Darts

The NBA season wrapped up Thursday night, crossing another sport off the list of those available to bet on. There's at most six NHL games remaining until October, and football is still a few months away. Outside of baseball, tennis and golf, the pickings are getting slim. If you need some action to hold you over until the fall, may I suggest one of the more electric sports this planet has to offer: darts.

We've all played darts at a bar or with friends in a basement somewhere, but watching the world's best dart players is a sight to behold. This weekend features the World Cup of Darts, an international competition featuring the sport's biggest stars. Most importantly, you can bet the tournament at BetMGM.

The format

The tournament actually began on Thursday with the first round. The first round continues on Friday, with the United States in action early Friday afternoon against Poland.

Poland is a -275 favorite to advance to the second round. Poland has the best player in the matchup in Krzystof Ratajski, who is ranked No. 16 in the world. His partner, Sebastian Bialecki, is ranked 92nd. The two Americans, Danny Baggish and Jules van Dongen, are ranked 96th and 139th, respectively.

The first round features a doubles best-of-nine leg. The remaining rounds feature two singles best-of-seven legs. If tied, the teams will play a best-of-seven leg doubles series.

The first round wraps up on Friday with the second round taking place on Saturday. The rest of the tournament concludes on Sunday.

The favorites

Wales last won the World Cup of Darts in 2020, and it enters this year's tournament as a +150 betting favorite to win it all. Wales is only one of two countries to feature two top-10 players as No. 2 Gerwyn Price and No. 8 Jonny Clayton pair up once again. The duo won this tournament just two years ago, and both players have only improved since then.

The only other country featuring two top-10 players is England. Michael Smith and James Wade are ranked fourth and fifth in the world rankings, respectively. England is a four-time winner and on the opposite side of the bracket as Wales, which could help set up an all-British final. Smith and Wade will look to learn from last year, when they lost as heavy favorites to Austria in the semifinal. England is +450 to win the tournament.

Unfortunately for the Netherlands, world No. 3 Michael van Gerwen needed surgery and is not available. However, the Dutch still feature a strong duo with No. 11 Danny Noppert and No. 14 Dirk van Duijvenbode. The absence of van Gerwen is a blow, as he was in peak form and rapidly returning to being one of the world's best. However, if you choose to ignore what the Dutch are missing and focus on what they have, they are still among the world's best. The Netherlands are +500 to win it all.

Last year's champion, Scotland, returns the same duo who got it done last year. Peter Wright is the No. 1 player in the world, but the questions surround his partner, big John Henderson. Henderson is No. 67 in the world ranking and just the fifth-highest-ranked Scottish player. However, No. 6 Gary Anderson is unavailable and Henderson got the job done last year, which gave him a leg-up on his fellow countrymen. Scotland has won the tournament twice in the last three years and is 12-1 to repeat this year.

Other nations near the top of the betting odds include Australia (+800), Belgium (10-1), Northern Ireland (16-1) and host Germany (16-1).