2025 World Grand Prix tournament preview and betting tips

Darts’ finest operators assemble in Leicester next week for the 2025 World Grand Prix – one of the PDC’s most unique majors thanks to its devilish double-in, double-out format.

Odds Now’s arrows expert Matt Hill (@Matt_Hill93) is on hand to give punters his overall thoughts and best outright bets ahead of the action.

World Grand Prix 2025 key information

Start Date: October 6th 2025

End Date: October 12th 2025

Venue: Mattioli Arena, Leicester

Format: Double-in, Double Out. Set Play. R1 first to two sets. R2/ QF first to three sets. SF first to five sets. Final first to six sets.

Field: 32 players. Top 16 from two-year Order of Merit + Top 16 from Pro Tour Order of Merit not already qualified.

Prize money: £600,000 total. £120,000 to the winner.

World Grand Prix 2025 betting odds

Luke Littler 9/4,

Luke Humphries 13/2,

Gerwyn Price 10/1

Josh Rock 10/1

Michael van Gerwen 11/1

Stephen Bunting 20/1

Gian van Veen 25/1

James Wade 28/1

Jonny Clayton 28/1

Gary Anderson 33/1

Rob Cross 33/1

Wessel Nijman 40/1

Nathan Aspinall 40/1

Chris Dobey 40/1

50/1 BAR

(Best price shown, odds correct as of 03/10/25)

World Grand Prix 2025 Draw and quarter odds

Quarter 1:

Luke Humphries vs Nathan Aspinall

Martin Schindler vs Krzysztof Ratajski

Chris Dobey vs Cameron Menzies

Rob Cross vs Wessel Nijman

Quarter 1 winner odds (best price as of 12.30pm 03/10/25): Humphries 13/8, Dobey 9/2, Nijman 7/1, Aspinall 7/1, Cross 15/2, Schindler 17/2, Menzies 16/1, Ratajski 16/1.

Quarter 2:

Stephen Bunting vs Niko Springer

Danny Noppert vs Jermaine Wattimena

James Wade vs Joe Cullen

Gary Anderson vs Raymond van Barneveld

Quarter 2 winner odds (best price as of 12.30pm 03/10/25): Bunting 2/1, Anderson 10/3, Wade 11/2, Noppert 13/2, Wattimena 10/1, Springer 11/1, Cullen 16/1, Van Barneveld 20/1.

Quarter 3:

Luke Littler vs Gian van Veen

Peter Wright vs Mike De Decker

Gerwyn Price vs Ryan Searle

Josh Rock vs Ryan Joyce

Quarter 4 winner odds (best price as of 12.30pm 03/10/25): Littler 6/5, Rock 4/1, Price 4/1, Van Veen 17/2, De Decker 10/1, Searle 18/1, Joyce 28/1, Wright 33/1.

Quarter 4:

Michael van Gerwen vs Dirk van Duijvenbode

Ross Smith vs Daryl Gurney

Jonny Clayton vs Andrew Gilding

Damon Heta vs Luke Woodhouse

Quarter 4 winner odds (best price as of 12.30pm 03/10/25): Van Gerwen 2/1, Clayton 10/3, Heta 6/1, Smith 13/2, Van Duijvenbode 11/1, Woodhouse 12/1, Gurney 12/1, Gilding 20/1.

World Grand Prix 2025 outright preview

Upsets on the cards

Ah, the World Grand Prix. For me, this coming week marks the start of major season and the run-in towards the Alexandra Palace, with a plethora of top-class arrows to enjoy between now and the year-end. It really is Christmas come early for darts nuts like myself.

In terms of the tournament itself, I’m a massive fan. Perhaps it’s the value hunter in me but you always feel like shocks are on the cards more in this particular event.

The double-in, double-out format certainly lends itself to that. Look at last year, when we had a three-figure winner in Mike De Decker and no end of match shocks – including the exits of Michael van Gerwen, Luke Littler and Josh Rock at the opening hurdle.

Even in the Phil Taylor era of complete domination, the Grand Prix produced some surprising champions. Alan Warriner, Colin Lloyd and James Wade all got their hands on the trophy in the noughties, while Robert Thornton memorably stunned huge favourite Michael van Gerwen in the 2015 edition.

That’s not to mention Daryl Gurney’s maiden major triumph in 2017 – and to a lesser extent, Jonny Clayton’s 2021 success (The Ferret had lifted the Premier League five months earlier but it was his first major title). Even Luke Humphries went off 10/1 fourth favourite here in 2023, with his win sparking arguably the most remarkable three months of darts we’ve seen from any individual.

Littler lands in horror quarter

So, do we instantly discount the favourites? Not entirely – but it would take a lot of confidence to get stuck into one at a short price here.

Littler predictably heads the betting and will have his eyes fixed firmly on the prize, given its one of only four premier event titles still eluding the teenager. He exited at the first hurdle last year to Rob Cross which means technically, he's not even won a match on this stage (harsh, I know).

As always, a longer format favours the Nuke but he could hardly have been handed a tougher opening test, with the mercurial Gian van Veen set to pose him the sternest of examinations in round one.

Nobody has finished better than Van Veen in 2025 (46.65% checkout percentage) and he arrives in Leicester off the back of an excellent World Matchplay showing where he impressively accounted for Littler’s current rival Humphries in round one en route to the quarter finals in Blackpool.

The pair have met three times in 2025 and Van Veen has emerged victorious on every single occasion – winning 7-6, 7-4 and 6-4 respectively. That surely gives the Dutchman no end of confidence.

Furthermore, if you were to pick one minor weakness in Littler’s game, it would be his occasional disregard for the outer ring. Rob Cross exploited that in his round one victory over him last year and he’ll need to be razor sharp on his entries and exits to see off his fellow youngster.

But even if Littler does prevail in that one, some huge battles await. He’s landed in a quarter with Gerwyn Price and Josh Rock – meaning only one of those trio can make the semi-finals despite taking up three of the top five spots in the outright market.

So while it’s fair to assume whoever comes out of that quarter will be well tuned up for a tilt at glory, it’s hard to pick an individual with any confidence.

A former winner here, Price has been electric for long periods in 2025 and I have repeatedly stated my belief that he will end his four-plus year major drought in the coming months.

It could well be here, but I feel there will be better opportunities to back the Iceman in the coming weeks. He does excel in this format, though – 2024 was the first time in five years he had not reached the semi-finals or better, including a win in 2020.

But opening up against Ryan Searle, who has rediscovered some timely form in the last fortnight, then facing one of the majestic Josh Rock or doubling demon Ryan Joyce in round two is a very tough start. And that’s before potentially facing Littler in the quarters.

It’s all about price (pardon the pun) and at 10/1, with his tough draw recent major record in mind, you’d be taking a bit of a leap to side with the Welshman.

Rock deserves a mention, too. It’s been a breakthrough year for the talented Northern Irishman, inspiring his nation to World Cup glory alongside Daryl Gurney in June and then reaching his his World Matchplay semi-final – a feat he also achieved at the UK Open and World Series of Darts finals.

He should’ve probably beaten Littler in that Blackpool semi-final, racing into a 5-0 lead early before succumbing to a 17-14 defeat. But it was testament to how dangerous the 24-year-old now is and nobody will be surprised to see him lift a big trophy before the season ends.

Would you want to be backing him at 10/1 in a quarter with Price, Littler and Van Veen, though? I’m not so sure.

I’ve not even mentioned reigning champion De Decker in that quarter – or ex-World champion Peter Wright. Stacked isn’t the word!

Humphries and Van Gerwen not foolproof alternatives

If you are to avoid three of the five market leaders, then that surely strengthens the case for the remaining two?

Well, to be backing Luke Humphries at 13/2 in such circumstances seems an unlikely prospect but like with almost every price, there is logic behind it.

Cool Hand has not been his usual ruthless self in 2025. I mean, he has won the Masters, the Premier League, a Euro Tour and a World Series event. But we are holding him to world number one standards and in reality, there have been a handful of stronger performers over the last nine months.

To aid his case, he did win on the Euro Tour four weeks ago, beating the likes of Josh Rock, James Wade and Wessel Nijman en route to glory. But if there was a line of thought that would kick him back into beast mode, subsequent surprising exits in several of the next seven tournaments have tempered that.

Of course, Humphries can turn it on and his draw is kinder than many of his market-leading peers. But I can’t quite get there at 6/1 outright.

Van Gerwen, meanwhile, is even more of an enigma these days.

In Amsterdam three weeks ago, he was in blistering form, roaring his way to glorious home success and becoming the first player to beat both Humphries and Littler en route to winning a title.

A week later, he exited the Euro Tour to Danny Noppert, missing five match darts. Since then, he’s had two early exits on the Pro Tour which have left his chances of qualifying for Minehead – an event which sees the 64 top seasonal Pro Tour performers get through – in serious peril.

There’s always the old argument that Van Gerwen has the class to make 11/1 quotes look silly. But there’s too much unpredictability for me to put him up as a solid wager.

Bunting and Clayton look solid alternatives

And so to those who I do think merit a wager. Two stand out a mile to my eye – Stephen Bunting and Jonny Clayton.

Bunting just simply looks too big at 20/1 when you consider the opposition in his quarter. The Bullet is 2/1 to prevail through his section, with Gary Anderson – who hasn’t strung a serious TV run together for years now – second favourite at 10/3.

James Wade is the only competitor that strikes any concern into me in the section, and has his own merits at 28/1 having made the UK Open and World Matchplay finals this year alone.

But Bunting wouldn’t meet Wade until the quarter finals, should they both get there – and by that point, he’d likely have slugged it out with old foe Anderson.

Bunting, meanwhile, takes on an ultra-talented but inconsistent debutant in Niko Springer in his opener, before a winnable clash with one of Danny Noppert or Jermaine Wattimena. I think that allows him to grow into the tournament nicely and ultimately, his recent form is very, very encouraging.

The Scouser really impressed me when romping to the Swiss Darts Trophy at 20/1 last weekend and two last 16 runs on the floor across Tuesday and Wednesday – meaning he’s won 11 of his 13 games in the last week or so.

My main concern over Bunting has been whether he has the minerals to win a proper PDC major. But if he is to win one, this looks a chief contender. The less rowdy crowd, the tendency to produce first-time major winners, the kind draw. It may all be aligning for him here.

Put simply, the 20/1 quotes available are too big if he is a 2/1 chance to make the final four. Bunting has good records against all of the top four and if he’s still standing come the weekend, I’d give him a real chance of lifting the title.

Clayton, meanwhile, is probably my favourite bet of the two.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that in the last few months, Clayton has been the best player on the planet. Results don’t measure up to that, but the stats almost do.

Since July 1st, the PDC averages table reads Littler first (101.53), Bunting second (99.57) and Clayton third (99.07). But while the other two have won titles, the Ferret continues to go somewhat under the radar.

He’s won less matches than the other two in that period – but largely through bumping into freakish opposition showings. Take Thursday, for example, where he was going along swimmingly at Players Championship 30 before Andrew Gilding decided to average 111 against him.

That sort of statistic could be repeated time and again, but you don’t need me to laboriously list them. Just go and look at Clayton’s match history over the last few months. It’s littered with class – the like of which he’s not produced since 2020, when he cleaned up with four premier TV titles, including this one.

There’s been reasons for Clayton’s malaise in the years that have followed. A struggle with finally giving up the day job and turning full-time professional certainly caused a wobble, while the loss of his father unsurprisingly set him back for an extended period.

But the World Matchplay run to the semi-finals – only denied in an overtime epic against Wade – was the clearest indication yet that Clayton is playing well enough to land another major and at 28/1, he is my idea of the best bet in Leicester this week.

Matt Hill’s 2025 World Grand Prix outright selections

1.5pts EW - Stephen Bunting to win the World Grand Prix - 20/1 (Sky Bet/ Betfair/ Paddy Power)

1.5pts EW - Jonny Clayton to win the World Grand Prix - 28/1 (Bet365)