With Frenchman Thibault Tricole firing in the first 180 at the Darts World Championship, the starting pistol has been fired on a festival of online betting over the next few weeks. With top class racing, a jam-packed football schedule, the darts and the small matter of Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk our spread betting traders are braced for some busy shifts.

Ahead of that though, we review the weekend’s action where canny spread betting punters came out in profit.

Please remember Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit. They may not be suitable for everyone so please ensure you fully understand the risks involved.

KEANE BARRY v KIM HUYBRECHTS – MULTI 180s (SETTLED AT 70)

The Darts World Championship got underway in style yesterday evening at the Alexandra Palace and the game of the night was undoubtedly Keane Barry’s 3-1 over Kim Huybrechts.

This was the first time in four years that Huybrechts had entered at the first-round stage and the Belgian would have been hoping for a softer draw than Meath arrowsmith Barry who was the JDC Champion back in 2019.

Despite an average a couple of points shy of Huybrecht’s 96.94 and being beaten 10-7 in the maximum count, Barry was able to prevail and his reward is second round tie with Gerwyn Price this evening.

For darts spread betting punters, the high volume of maximums scored in the game was good news and our spread of 10-11.5 on Multi 180s was blown out of the water. With the spread settling at 70, buyers collected a win of 68.5x their stake.

SOUTHAMPTON v TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR – 1^ST SPURS GOAL (SETTLED AT 1)

It is fair to say that Russell Martin had been living on borrowed time, but the curtain on his Saints career was brutally pulled down yesterday by Tottenham Hotspur.

In a ruthless first half, Spurs cut loose with James Maddison opening the scoring in just the first minute after a surging run from Djed Spence. By the 25^th minute, Pape Sarr’s mazy run and finish had put Spurs 4-0 up and sent Saints fans streaming to the exits. In the very last minute of the first half, Maddison doubled his tally for the day as he scored Tottenham’s fifth and – mercifully for those Saints fans still in the ground – final goal.

By that point though sellers on our 1^st Spurs Goal Minute were already counting their cash. Before kick-off the spread was 36-39, but with the opener taking just 37 seconds, the spread settled at one as sellers won 35x their stake.

BRISTOL NOVICES’ HURDLE – SKYJACK HIJACK (SETTLED AT 0)

The Cheltenham Christmas Meeting took place on Friday and Saturday where the pick of the festive fun was the Garde 2 Bristol Novices’ Hurdle which took place on Saturday.

Featuring six runners, Skyjack Hijack was the warm favourite having been sent off at 11/8. However, Sean Quinlan’s mount was far from fluent and the favourite floundered badly on the run in to come home over 20 lengths behind the eventual winner Jet Blue.

As the runners went to post, the 50-25-10 spread on Skyjack Hijack was 28-31, but with the six-year-old coming home a disappointing fifth, the spread settled at zero with sellers winning 28x their stake.

Please note that these are examples of winning bets from the past week, and it is important to remember that spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit.