Van Gerwen is at odds of 11/8 going into the tournament as he chases a third World title after being cruelly denied last year by Rob Cross in the latter stages.
Gary Anderson is second favourite for the title; which like Van Gerwen is no surprise and is at 3/1 with William Hill.
Peter Wright is next up at 11/1 with Michael Smith at 14/1. Rob Cross the current World Champion probably due to current form more than anything is at 20/1.
Former World Champions Adrian Lewis and Raymond van Barneveld are down at 66/1 by comparison and so could be good bets.
Craig Ross, James Bailey, Yuanjun Liu and Nitin Kumar are down at the bottom of the betting; which is 5,000 and 10,000/1.
William Hill World Darts Championship (Sponsors odds)
11/8 - Michael van Gerwen
3/1 - Gary Anderson
11/1 - Peter Wright
14/1 - Michael Smith
20/1 - Rob Cross
25/1 - Mensur Suljovic
33/1 - Daryl Gurney, Gerwyn Price, James Wade
50/1 - Dimitri van den Bergh
66/1 - Adrian Lewis, Dave Chisnall, Raymond van Barneveld
80/1 - Jeffrey de Zwaan, Simon Whitlock
100/1 - Ian White, Joe Cullen
125/1 - Jonny Clayton, Kyle Anderson, Stephen Bunting
150/1 - Danny Noppert, Jamie Lewis, Kim Huybrechts
200/1 - Darren Webster, Jelle Klaasen, Krzysztof Ratajski, Max Hopp, Steve West
250/1 - Mervyn King
300/1 - Alan Norris, Chris Dobey, James Wilson, Robert Thornton
500/1 - Benito van de Pas, Brendan Dolan, Cristo Reyes, Darius Labanauskas, Jan Dekker, Jeff Smith, Jermaine Wattimena, John Henderson, Josh Payne, Keegan Brown, Luke Humphries, Nathan Aspinall, Richard North, Ricky Evans, Ron Meulenkamp, Ryan Joyce, Ryan Searle, Stephen Burton, Steve Beaton, Steve Lennon, Ted Evetts, Vincent van der Voort
750/1 - Gabriel Clemens, Mickey Mansell, Ross Smith, William O'Connor
1000/1 - Adam Hunt, Aden Kirk, Alan Tabern, Boris Koltsov, Devon Petersen, Diogo Portela, Geert Nentjes, Jeffrey de Graaf, Karel Sedlacek, Martin Schindler, Matthew Edgar, Michael Barnard, Paul Lim, Paul Nicholson, Raymond Smith, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Seigo Asada, Simon Stevenson, Toni Alcinas, Wayne Jones, Yordi Meeuwisse
1500/1 - Daniel Larsson, Royden Lam
2000/1 - Lisa Ashton
2500/1 - Anastasia Dobromyslova, Chuck Puleo, Cody Harris, Jim Long, Jose de Sousa, Kevin Burness, Lourence Ilagan, Noel Malicdem, Robert Marijanovic
5000/1 - Craig Ross, James Bailey, Yuanjun Liu
10000/1 - Nitin Kumar