Betfred World Matchplay 2025 Betting Tips: Thursday’s boosted double attracts

The Betfred World Matchplay has reached the quarter-finals at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool and there are two great games taking place on Thursday.

Our star darts tipster Sean Rafferty has picked out two angles he likes the look of that have been boosted by the Betfred traders for Thursday's action...

*You can check out all of our Betfred World Matchplay Odds over on betfred.com

Over 27.5 legs in Van Veen vs Wade @ 4/5

We’re being treated to vintage Wade so far this week - two wonderful victories and performances from The Machine have seen him cruise into the quarter finals, dropping just eight legs in the process. Averages of 104.44 and 102.53 have made him look an even tougher opponent than usual for any player this week.

Gian took all the headlines on Saturday night when he dispatched World number one Luke Humphries. His match against Danny Noppert was a total contrast, it was a much scrappier match and Gian didn’t get off to the best of starts. He grew into the game though, winning seven legs on the spin and taking complete control, he ran out a comfortable 11-5 winner against World Cup teammate Noppert in the end.

Despite being priced as the slight outsider, I give Wade the edge in this one, due to what I’ve seen from him so far in Blackpool this week and the vast experience he has. I just can’t rule out Gian though, who has a very wise head on his shoulders for his age and seems to take everything in his stride, without getting carried away.

Over 27.5 legs looks the most sensible option in this one, given their stats are fairly similar and neither look likely to buckle under pressure. They’ve played once over a longer format at the European Championship, that one finished 11-9. I expect a similarly close affair here in what is a huge match for both, given how open this top half of the draw is.

*You can check out all of Betfred's Darts Odds for the Betfred World Matchplay and all tournaments throughout the year over on betfred.com

Clayton to hit over 9.5 180s vs Stephen Bunting @ 11/10

Jonny Clayton didn’t hit the heights of his first round match against Martin Schindler, as he somewhat stumbled over the line in an 11-8 victory over Mike De Decker, in what was a pretty inconsistent performance from The Ferret. The scoring was still good in spells, but doubles were his Achilles heel as he only hit 36.67% of his 30 double attempts.

Bunting for the second game running had his own issues, starting very slowly and didn’t manage to improve as quickly as he did against Ryan Joyce. Himself and Anderson played well below their best, with doubles proving a big problem for the pair of them. It was The Bullet who eventually prevailed, winning 12-10 after the match going into overtime. It goes without saying that he’ll have to improve massively from a 92.71 average and 27.91% on doubles if he’s to progress here. Progressing beyond the quarter finals is something Stephen has never managed to do in ten previous appearances at the Winter Gardens.

What has really interested me recently with Jonny and has come to the fore even more so this week is how many maximums the Welshman has been hitting. He’s managed to hit 17 180s in just 36 legs across his two matches in Blackpool this week. Over the past twelve months, he’s averaging 0.28 180s per leg. It’s evident he’s become more prolific on them, as over his last 21 matches he’s averaging 0.38 180s per leg, hitting more than 25% extra than he had been previously. If he carries on at this rate, he’ll on require around 25 or 26 legs to hit 10+ maximums, which looks almost a guarantee in what should be a fairly tight match against Bunting.

You can find all Sean's latest Darts Betting Tips on our main Insights content hub.