The Best Sports Betting Events of 2018 and Why They’ll Be Big for Punters

It may have only just begun, but 2018 has already brought us one memorable sporting moment with Rob Cross clinching his first PDC World Darts Championship just 10 months after turning professional and in his first attempt in the tournament. Not only that, but his victory over Phil Taylor signalled the end of the career of The Power – a darting legend who has won a total of 16 World Titles across the PDC and BDO during his stellar career.

So the year may have started with a bang but there\s still plenty of fantastic sporting to enjoy across the next 12 months or so and we’re going to bring you a quick preview of some of the best sporting events you can look forward to throughout 2018, especially with a view to enjoying a flutter on the events in question.

Darts – Jan 6 to Jan 14 – BDO World Championships

If Darts is your thing then you don’t have to wait too long for the BDO version of the World Championship to take place at Frimley Green. 31 of the top BDO players will compete to try and wrestle the title away from current holder Glen Durrant in a tournament which still attracts plenty of interest, despite being viewed as the inferior of the two World Darts tournaments that take place at this time of the year.

Coral are offering odds on the outright winner of this event with Glen Durrant the short priced 6/5 favourite and last years beaten finalist Danny Noppert the 7/1 second favourite.

Darts – 1^st Feb to 17^th May – PDC Premier League Darts

The eight players competing in the 2018 PDC Premier League of Darts have been announced and it’s a sweeping change to the 2017 event with six players that competed in 2017 ditched and a bunch of new faces coming into the event.

The eight players competing in 2018 across 16-weeks of darts are as follows complete with their outright odds of winning the event as provided by Coral:

• Michael Van Gerwen – 8/11 fav
• Rob Cross – 7/2
• Gary Anderson – 11/2
• Peter Wright – 8/1
• Daryl Gurney – 40/1
• Mensur Suljovic – 40/1
• Raymond van Barneveld – 40/1
• Michael Smith – 66/1
• Gerwyn Price – 100/1
• Simon Whitlock – 200/1

The action begins on February 1^st at the 3Arena in Dublin and travels across the UK and Europe to Cardiff, Newcastle, Berlin, Exeter, Leeds, Nottingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Liverpool, Sheffield, Rotterdam, Manchester, Birmingham, Aberdeen and finally London for the Playoffs on May 17^th.

Rugby Union – February 3^rd to March 17^th – Six Nations

England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France and Italy will once again compete in the Six Nations Rugby tournament which gets underway on the 3^rd February. The opening match sees Wales host Scotland before France face Ireland and then Italy welcome England for the final match of the opening weekend.

England are the holders of the trophy having won the event last year with a 4-1 record, only losing their final game with Ireland to miss out on the Grand Slam. Coral currently have the teams at the following odds to win the event outright:

• England – 4/5 fav
• Ireland – 5/2
• Scotland – 9/1
• France – 12/1
• Wales – 12/1
• Italy – 1000/1

Football – 14^th June to 15^th July – 2018 FIFA World Cup

32 of the world’s top international teams will travel to Russia in the summer following the end of the domestic season to compete in the FIFA World Cup. Holders Germany will join the hosts Russia and a host of other top teams with a view to becoming the next big winners of the most prestigious trophy in football.

Only England out of the Home Nations made it through and they have been drawn into Group G alongside Belgium, Tunisia and Panama, with Gareth Southgate’s men facing the two minnows of the group first before their match with Belgium.  Two teams from each of the eight groups will qualify for the knockout stage with the 16 teams battling it out in a series of one-leg, winner takes all matches to decide the winner.

Currently Coral have holders Germany as the 9/2 favourites to win the World Cup, with Brazil a 5/1 shot, France 11/2, Spain 7/1, Argentina 9/1 and Belgium 11/1. England are 14/1 shots with Euro 2016 winners Portugal ranked a 22/1 chance and Uruguay 28/1.

Football – 6^th Sept onwards – UEFA Nations League

With qualifying for the European Championship in 2020 set to run from March 2019 through to November 2019, following the World Cup the first UEFA Nations League tournament will take place. Although the groups are not yet finalised, this event is a brand new International tournament for European teams, which will see them compete for promotion and relegation across four divisions.

It will be interesting to see how teams approach this event and whether they play strong teams from the outset, or whether they adopt a more experimental approach to the games. The tournament is designed to do away with meaningless international friendly games, while still offering teams the chance to compete against other teams of a similar ability level.

Golf – 28^th to 30^th September – Ryder Cup

Team Europe and the USA will once again lock horns, this time at Le Golf National in Paris for the 2018 Ryder Cup. The American team were victorious on home soil last time around and they will be hoping to record an all-too rare win on European soil to defend the trophy they won back in 2016.

Thomas Bjorn will captain the hosts while Jim Furyk takes over from Davis Love III as the American captain as the visitors attempt to win on European soil for the first time since 1993. It will be a hugely interesting tournament as America will come into the event having the majority of players inside the world’s top 50, while the European team will likely be a mix of new emerging talents, combined with some players who have played in events previously.

Yet that is not the only sport you can look forward to betting on in 2018. There are each of the four Tennis and Golf major championships to look forward to starting with the Australian Open in Melbourne at the end of January, while Golf’s major season gets underway at the Masters in April.

Then of course there is the end of the 2017-2018 Premier League season, the start of the 2018-2019 Premier League season, the Europa and Champions League finals, plus some massive boxing matches including David Haye battling Tony Bellew in May and Anthony Joshua set to be in action some time around the Spring time.

Add to this a huge choice of too horse racing meetings including the Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National meeting at Aintree, the Epsom Derby, the Guineas meet at Newmarket, Glorious Goodwood and Royal Ascot, it promises to be one outstanding year for sports fans and sports betting enthusiasts.