In some parts of the world, Christmas is a holiday when very little sporting activity takes place, but in others, sport is a key part of the festive celebrations and in this week’s article, we are going to take a look at some of the top sporting events you can enjoy watching, or a bet on, over the festive and New Year period.
We will be focusing on events both in the United Kingdom and also elsewhere around the world, as there are a number of top sports events taking place, particularly in the United States, over the next couple of weeks.
As always, we’d recommend that bet365 Sport is your first stop for all your sports betting needs with a massive choice of markets and fixtures to pick from over the festive period and throughout the year.
New customers can sign up using the Welcome Bonus, which will be an easy way to claim some bet365 bet credits when you do.
Top Festive Sporting Fixtures And Tips – Xmas 2022
PDC World Championship Darts
The PDC World Championship of Darts is already underway with the first and second rounds set to be completed by Friday 23rd December. There’s plenty of action to enjoy both in the afternoon sessions and evening sessions from the Alexandra Palace in London, and you can enjoy pre-match and In Play betting on all games.
The action then continues from the 27th December running through to the 3rd January when the new World Champion for 2023 will be crowned. Plenty of top stars remain in the running for the title at the moment including the current World Champion Peter Wright, plus the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith.
With live coverage of every game in every session on Sky Sports, the PDC World Championship is as much a part of Christmas for many as Turkey and Mince Pies, so why not tune in yourself over the festive period to see some cracking games.
Coming up over the next few days are the following games:
- Mervyn King v Danny Baggish
- Michael van Gerwen v Lewy Williams
- James Wade v Jim Williams
- Rob Cross v Scott Williams
- Joe Cullen v Ricky Evans
And two games confirmed for Round 3 which starts on the 27th December will surely whet the appetite.
- Gerwyn Price v Raymond van Barneveld
- Peter Wright v Kim Huybrechts
Michael van Gerwen remains the 5/2 favourite to win the title, with Michael Smith second favourite at 5/1 and Gerwyn Price next at 6/1.
Carabao Cup & Premier League Football
We’ve already seen the Carabao Cup Round of 16 get underway on Tuesday night, and on Thursday we have the biggest game of the round as Manchester City host Liverpool in what is a fantastic start to a packed festive calendar of top class football action.
From the 26th December, we have three Matchdays in the Premier League running almost consecutively featuring top games such as:
Matchday 17
- Leicester City v Newcastle United
- Aston Villa v Liverpool
- Arsenal v West Ham
- Leeds Utd v Man City
Matchday 18
- Liverpool v Leicester
- Wolves v Man Utd
- Man City v Everton
- Newcastle v Leeds
- Brighton v Arsenal
- Tottenham v Aston Villa
Matchday 19
- Arsenal v Newcastle United
- Aston Villa v Wolves
- Crystal Palace v Tottenham
- Chelsea v Manchester City
All the games on Boxing Day through to the 28th December are being shown live on Amazon Prime, while Sky Sports and BT Sports will have extensive coverage of a number of games over the other two matchdays including several of the ones listed in this article.
With nine points up for grabs in just over a week, this could be a hugely important and defining period of the Premier League season for all teams and you can enjoy a bet on every game, both pre-match and In Play at bet365.
Kempton Park’s Boxing Day Horse Racing Meeting
The Boxing Day meeting at Kempton Park is one of the traditions of the British sporting calendar and this year we have a couple of cracking races in store.
Starting off is the Kempton Christmas Hurdle, which is set to feature the outstanding Constitution Hill, who is an antepost 1/6 favourite to win the race. The horse has won all four of his races over jumps, including the Supreme Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham earlier on this year.
The horse then followed that up with a win at the Fighting Fifth Hurdle in Newcasle in November to set itself up nicely for this race.
This race is then followed by the famous King George VI Chase, which looks a much more open race with Bravemansgame and L’homme Presse the 15/8 joint-favourites to win the race, although the likes of Hitman (9/2) and Envoi Allen (7/1) both have reasonable prospects to do well.
With other races such as the Long Walk Hurdle and the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase, Kempton’s Boxing Day meet is a highlight of the jumps season and is one meeting not to miss!
The NFL Regular Season Reaching Its Conclusion
There are just three weeks left of the NFL regular season and over the Christmas and New Year period, we will see two of those three fixtures, plus a slack handful of Playoff places likely to be decided.
Top games to look out for over the festive and New Year period are as follows:
- Jacksonville Jaguars @ New York Jets
- Cincinnati Bengals @ New England Patriots
- Detroit Lions @ Carolina Panthers
- New York Giants @ Minnesota Vikings
- Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys
- Dallas Cowboys @ Tennessee Titans
- Carolina Panthers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots
- San Francisco 49ers @ Las Vegas Raiders
- Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers
- Los Angeles Rams @ Los Angeles Chargers
- Buffalo Bills @ Cincinnati Bengals
As always, you can enjoy a fantastic range of bets on all the NFL games each week, as well as In Play betting, at bet365 Sport.
NBA Basketball
Fans of American sports will also enjoy a great selection of NBA Basketball games too over the festive period including the following:
- Milwaukee Bucks @ Cleveland Cavaliers
- Golden State Warriors @ Brooklyn Nets
- Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks
- Los Angeles Lakers @ Dallas Mavericks
- Milwaukee Bucks @ Boston Celtics
- Memphis Grizzlies @ Golden State Warriors
- Phoenix Suns @ Denver Nuggets
So if you find yourself with a little spare time to enjoy some sport over the festive period, the good news is that there are as many exciting betting opportunities to enjoy as there are fantastic Christmas sporting events!