Betting in May 2026
It’s a bumper month of sport in May and we get take a brief preview at the wide variety of sport betting action to come.
What a month May is set to be, with every weekend packed full of top quality sport. The flat racing season bursts into life with plenty of feature races on turf, while football reaches boiling point with crucial matches throughout the month, whether it’s cup finals, relegation battles or the playoffs.
I’m taking a deep dive into everything going on and highlighting some of the best betting opportunities, along with the top places to get your bets on throughout the month of May.
World Championship Snooker
Crucible, Sheffield
I’m not a huge snooker fan, but the World Snooker Championship is the pinnacle of the sport and deserves huge respect. In a fast paced world driven by short form content and constant action, snooker doesn’t always fit the modern sports entertainment mould. The sport is fortunate to have Ronnie O'Sullivan, arguably the greatest player of all time, whose carefree attitude and brilliance have helped keep the game in the spotlight. However, he was knocked out in round two by former world champion John Higgins.
Higgins also edged past another former world champion, Neil Robertson, as he bids for a fourth world title, 28 years after winning his first at the Crucible Theatre. Yes, you read that right... 28 years since his first world championship triumph, which is an incredible achievement. He now looks set for a showdown with Mark Allen, who is chasing a maiden world title of his own if he can overcome China’s Wu Yize. Wu will be hoping to keep the trophy in China after Zhao Xintong secured China’s first ever world championship title last season.
Let’s hope Higgins can get the job done because it would be a remarkable story and one that would give snooker some much deserved mainstream attention. Higgins is currently priced at 15/8 to lift the title.
As a major sponsor of the World Snooker Tour, BetVictor are a great option for snooker betting. They offer match betting, correct score markets, frame betting and outright winner odds. They even provide Bet Builders for snooker, which is something you rarely see elsewhere, making BetVictor a standout choice for snooker betting.
FA Cup Final
Wembley, England
Manchester City are chasing a cup double in May as they take on Chelsea in the FA Cup Final. Pep Guardiola’s side have thrown a huge spanner into Arsenal’s season, with talk of a quadruple ending after City comfortably brushed aside a lacklustre Arsenal team in the League Cup Final.
Manchester City have been in outstanding form for much of the campaign, with their only real setback in recent months coming in the Champions League against Real Madrid. They head to Wembley as firm favourites to beat Chelsea and add another major trophy to their collection.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are in complete turmoil after recently sacking their manager and losing five straight Premier League matches. They managed to scrape past Leeds United in the semi finals, but with Champions League qualification now out of reach, this represents their final chance to salvage something from a hugely disappointing season.
The final takes place on 16th May at Wembley Stadium, with kick off scheduled for 3pm.
Premier League of Darts Finals
02, London
What a Premier League of Darts campaign we’ve had so far this year, with plenty of twists and turns for all the players involved. Luke Littler returned to the top of the table with his fourth nightly win of the tournament in Liverpool on Thursday. He now sits just two points clear of Welshman Jonny Clayton, who has been superb throughout and already has three nightly victories to his name. Clayton looks almost certain to book his place in the finals night at the O2 Arena.
The big surprise has been Luke Humphries, who has struggled at times to close out matches and currently finds himself just outside the qualification spots. However, Humphries appears to be finding form again and could easily have beaten Littler in their most recent clash. I’m convinced he will overtake both Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price before finals night and set up a semi final showdown with Clayton.
Fellow Welshman Gerwyn Price has gone off the boil in recent weeks, but I still think he’ll do enough to cling on to a place in the finals. In such a fiercely competitive tournament, fans have enjoyed a multitude of nightly winners, which has also made it fantastic from a betting perspective.
Luke Littler will always be short in the betting, but that creates excellent value on his rivals. I’d definitely be looking at Luke Humphries to pick up a couple more weekly victories before the finals on 28th May.
As proud sponsors of the tournament, BetMGM is a great place for darts betting, offering strong odds and plenty of specials. If casino action is more your thing, their MGM Millions jackpot currently sits at over £38 million, thats enough to buy Alexandra Palace. No bull!
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Play-Off Time
The NBA playoffs are already in full swing, with the first round nearly complete and plenty of drama already unfolding. The Lakers have just beaten Houston, with LeBron James continuing to stamp all over Father Time. James remains one of the best players in the league at 41 years of age and dragged the Lakers through in six games without MVP candidate Luka Dončić, when many expected them to be swept without the Slovenian superstar.
They now take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semi finals, which looks the standout series of the playoffs so far. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be aiming to cement his place as the best player in the NBA and push towards back to back MVP awards.
The Knicks humiliated Atlanta with one of the most dominant exits in recent playoff history to seal a 4-1 series victory. They now await the winner of Game 7 between the 76ers and Celtics.
The only other confirmed series sees the Timberwolves face the Spurs after Anthony Edwards inspired Minnesota past the Denver Nuggets, while San Antonio cruised beyond the Trail Blazers led by MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama, who continues to tear up the record books.
Let’s hope LeBron can maintain these incredible performance levels and take the Lakers even further, as this could potentially be the final playoff run of one of the greatest basketball careers the sport has ever seen.
TigerBet are boosting odds on all NBA playoff games throughout May and look a great destination for match betting.
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Puskás Aréna, Budapest, Hungary
We’ve just witnessed one of the greatest European matches of all time as PSG edged past Bayern Munich 5-4 in the first leg of their Champions League semi final. At one stage PSG were cruising at 5-2, but Vincent Kompany’s side fought back brilliantly to make it 5-4 in a breathtaking second half.
The open, attacking football on display was a joy to watch and highlighted what many feel has been missing from parts of the Premier League this season. That point was underlined the following night as Arsenal laboured to a narrow 1-0 home win against Atletico Madrid. Arsenal can often be a tough watch, and while Atletico are hardly known for entertaining football themselves, there’s still hope we get a memorable final rather than a tactical stalemate.
PSG now head to the Allianz Arena in Munich looking to hold off what will be a determined Bayern side led by Harry Kane, who in my opinion deserves serious consideration for this year’s Ballon d’Or. Realistically, he probably won’t win it, as the award rarely seems to get things completely right, but his performances this season have been exceptional.
This second leg looks set to be another classic and whoever progresses to the final will fully deserve their place.
When it comes to betting, you can’t look much further than tournament sponsors Bet365, who continue to offer extensive promotions, specials and highly competitive odds on Champions League matches.
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World Heavyweight Boxing Title Fight
This fight seems to have gone slightly under the radar, and I’m not really sure why, because for me it’s far more interesting than the recently announced showdown between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, which, let’s be honest, is probably five years too late.
Daniel Dubois is still very much in his prime, while Fabio Wardley remains unbeaten and continues to take major scalps in the heavyweight division. Wardley isn’t the most technically polished boxer, which is no surprise considering his background in white collar boxing and lack of amateur pedigree, but what he does possess is incredible heart and determination. That’s something that has occasionally been questioned with Dubois throughout his career.
Dubois is undoubtedly a dangerous heavyweight, but he has shown vulnerabilities when dragged into deeper waters. He did impress against Croatian heavyweight Filip Hrgović, although Hrgović didn’t look at his sharpest that night, before Dubois was comprehensively stopped by Oleksandr Usyk in his next major outing.
On paper, this is a brilliant heavyweight clash because the two fighters are complete opposites stylistically and mentally. It also makes for a fascinating betting contest, with the market struggling to split them. Wardley currently sits around 5/6, while Dubois can be backed at EVS.
I’d love to see Wardley come through because he deserves far more recognition than he currently gets, but I’ve got a sneaky feeling Dubois may come out aggressively and blast him out early. If you fancy that angle, William Hill are offering around 25/1 and 22/1 respectively for Dubois to win in rounds two or three.
