If there’s one thing that darts bettors enjoy, it’s the idea of new markets. Now, until very recently, the idea of a new market focused solely on the darts themselves. It wasn’t until the last decade that platforms offered in-play markets where you could watch the game, bet on the next dart, the total of the game, and other derivative markets. 

Before then, darts primarily consisted of outright bets, whether you were betting on an individual tournament winner in one of the big season-defining games in the PDC calendar, or more specifically, on the games themselves. 

However, betting on individual legs, winning margins, and total legs or sets was unavailable until recently. As the market continues to push toward a global audience, we’ve seen an increase in payment options looking to do the same, which is where our focus lies today – the impact of cryptocurrency in the world of darts betting. 

As darts is on the fringes of the sports betting world. Fewer viewers usually mean fewer people in the sports betting markets, offering you a route to bet on the game's outcome. Now, navigating this world, especially before the rise of cryptocurrency and fintech, was a tightrope.

However, as the world has shifted toward digital innovations, it has created a market where smaller areas of the sports industry can flex their muscles, proverbially speaking. Niches have managed to use their hyper-specific content and appeal as a superpower. Appealing directly to a smaller audience can often be more effective than a scattergun approach to a larger market with more competition. 

In few areas is this is more evident than in the world of esports betting, also known as professional video gaming. Since the beginning of the 2010s, professional video gaming has gone from a hobby to a niche on the fringes of the global entertainment world, to generating prize pools in the tens of millions of dollars. 

We’ve seen games like Counter-Strike 2 use streaming platforms to showcase their tournaments to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, and then tap into cryptocurrency and betting to help double down on this new global audience.

Those who bet on CS2 matches at Thunderpick understand how this market is shaping up. Blockchain is breaking down the international barriers to many markets, allowing people to send money directly from wallet to wallet, and thrusting a decentralized framework into the eyes and ears of the igaming world – many sports are following suit, and over the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in the number of darts bettors seeking out this form of betting.

In the UK, which is the home of darts, the biggest darts promotional company, Matchroom, has recently been featured in a reveal-all documentary. The Greatest Showmen details the rise of the business, from the humble roots of Barry Hearn starting the company over 40 years ago, to the billion-dollar company they are today. 

Not only did the documentary open the curtain and showcase just how many spinning plates the company has in the air at any given time, but it also showed that darts is their biggest money spinner. Despite operating across many different sports, darts is the one that consistently delivers the best return for the Essex-based business behemoths.

While there are multiple reasons why darts have risen to prominence in the UK and, subsequently, in the international market, the obvious one is the rise of social media and sites like YouTube, where highlights can go viral and global. 

Allowing the sport to tap into niches and push it into markets it had never been in before. As you can see in the link below, social media is now the default route for marketing. If event organizers want people to tune in, they will use social media as the main springboard for their marketing. This created the pathway for digital assets to become the newest and most impactful change that we have seen in the betting market for decades.

Although cryptocurrency is still not the primary payment option in the sports betting market, several positive factors are emerging, creating an environment in which more platforms are taking notice. The peer-to-peer payment system that crypto offers is built on the blockchain. 

As the blockchain is borderless, with no cross-border fees, and removes the need for a third party to oversee transactions, it allows those who bet on darts games and tournaments to connect directly with their chosen provider. 

So long as Bitcoin remains a significant part of the traditional financial system and large, centralized cryptocurrency companies like Ripple continue to target traditional finance, we will see a greater correlation between sports betting markets and crypto. The real question is: how significant will these changes be? Over the next decade, we will find a clear answer to this question.