Betfred pledge £32,000 from darts championship to Stroke Association
Published on by Becky M.
The Stroke Association has been awarded £32,000 from Betfred after they pledged to donate £50 every time a player hit a 180 during the World Matchplay tournament.
Betfred pledge
Gambling operator Betfred, were this years’ sponsor for the darts World Matchplay tournament, which due to the current Covid pandemic, was held behind closed doors from 18th to 26th July at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes. They pledged to donate £1 per point scored during the ‘Nine Dart Challenge’, £50 every time a player hit a 180 and then a further £10,000 if the previous years’ 330 total, was reached or beaten. 
During the final between Dimitri Van Den Bergh and Gary Anderson, the previous record of 330 was beaten by three points by Van Den Bergh, who went on to beat Anderson 18 – 10 and secure the title. This record beating total meant that Betfred would pledge £16,650 plus the additional £10,000, plus the money pledged from the nine dart challenge, totalling an impressive £32,000.
The Stroke Association
The Stroke Association was chosen as this years’ charity partner in support of Rod Studd, an darts and rugby league expert analyst and commentator for Sky Sports, who recently suffered a stroke and is currently recovering. Fred Done, Betfred’s boss, said:“I’m delighted to be writing such a big cheque, especially after a record breaking number of 180s this week. It was fitting that Dimitri Van den Bergh was the player to hit the 180 which took us beyond last year’s total before he went on to take a well-deserved victory, and we congratulate him on his success.“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the players, PDC staff and Sky Sports for putting on such an entertaining event in challenging times.”