Cheating in general society is frowned upon.
It just shows poor characteristics on a human level. If you can’t win fairly, you likely don’t deserve to win at all.
There are few occurrences when cheating is frowned upon more though, than in sports.
When you’re a player or spectator and you witness cheating in sport, it genuinely creates fury – Maradona ‘hand of God’ comes to mind.
You might look at darts and think for such a simple game, it must be impossible to cheat?
Well, maybe not…
Below we cover the most controversial cheating moments in darts history.
We won’t be passing judgement though so it’s for you to decide whether or not you think there was some cheating going on.
Except for one case where someone received a seven year suspension. That one is pretty much undeniable.
Biggest CHEATING Moments in Darts
Phil Taylor D12 In Gibraltar Darts Trophy
During a match between Phil Taylor and Dean Winstanley at the 2013 Gibraltar Darts Trophy, Phil Taylor was left on a 68 finish.
His first dart was a stray and landed in single 5, he recovered hitting a T13 to leave a dart at D12.
Upon throwing the dart, the cameras appear to show the dart outside the wire of the D12 resulting in a no score.
You can see this, however, we also hear the referee Russ Bray declare:
“Game shot and the fourth leg, Phil Taylor”
The commentator flags this immediately saying it didn’t look in but no one else questioned it and the game went on.
Did Phil Taylor know it was a miss? We’ll leave you to decide on that.
Ryan Searle D10 In Winmau World Masters
The Taylor incident above is not the only televised one where a ref called it wrong but play went on.
During a 2010 Winmau World Masters match, Ryan Searle threw a match dart at D10 which landed just outside the wire for a no score.
Before he had a chance to follow the dart up though, the referee called game.
When the ref calls ‘game’ we can definitely give Searle the benefit of the doubt. He could easily have just automatically assumed it was in and took his darts out.
It’s also known that Searle doesn’t have the best eyesight so there’s that as well.
For everyone else watching though it was clearly on the wire and for a marker going in for D10, you can’t really get one better than that!
Therefore, while this was claimed as ‘cheating’, it was more likely the combination of a mistake by the ref and Searle’s borderline legal blindness that wouldn’t have happened in any other instance.
Deta Hedman D9 In 6 Nations Cup
Representing England in the 2022 6 Nations Cup, Deta Hedman was throwing for a 36 checkout.
Her first dart was outside the wire of the D18, her second dart fell just short into the single 18.
Hedman just assumed it was in so started to walk towards the board to collect her dart before realising it was not in the double (confirmed by the referee).
Her final dart for D9 fell just short of the wire again hitting single 9, however, this time the referee called game.
In most circumstances, you’d think the player KNEW it wasn’t in and carried on anyway, essentially cheating.
This was a strange one though mainly for the fact that Hedman missed the D18 prior and also thought it was in.
It’s hard to know if she was distracted or if lighting was an issue but to miss two doubles in a single throw and think both of them were in makes it harder to think she was straight up cheating.
It doesn’t answer the question of why she kept thinking here darts were in the double when they weren’t though.
Gerwyn Price ‘Over-Exaggerated’ Celebrations In Grand Slam of Darts
During the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts final between Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson, the pair would have a heated exchange during the 15th leg.
It later came out that Gary Anderson accused Price of unsportsmanlike conduct with over-exaggerated celebrations in order to put him off.
How did Price respond?
Well, he just kept winding him up basically every time he won a leg. Giving him a ‘shush’ gesture along with a ‘mouthy’ hand gesture.
Anderson was visibly furious during the 27th leg of an incredibly closely contested match in a first to 16 leg race. He stepped back from the oche mid throw and was ranting after he finished the throw.
How did Price respond to this?
In the next leg he hit a good cover shot with 2 x T19’s and then bumped into Anderson while celebrating before collecting his darts. It wasn’t even a checkout, they were only midway through the leg.
He then just kept celebrating as though he’d won the World Championship.
It’s hard to call this one cheating, both are fiery competitors but watching the match it looked like Price was taking it too far…
Price was fined £21,500 and given a suspended three-month ban for his behaviour though.
See also: 6 times Gerwyn Price shocked darts fans
Justin Pipe ‘Coughing Fit’ at World Championships
During a match at the 2018 World Championship between Bernie Smith and Justin Pipe, the cameras (and commentators) picked up on Pipe seeming to have a coughing fit while Smith was throwing.
This is suspicious because the game was first to 3 sets, Smith was in the lead with 2 sets, 2 legs and a score of 56 remaining.
This means he was throwing to win the match.
During his throw and out of nowhere, we see pipe coughing each time Smith goes to throw a dart.
None more so evident than during Smith’s final dart, you can really see Pipe laying it on with a heaved chest.
Was this intentional?
Wayne Mardle said that any player in that situation would turn away from the board and the player throwing in order to minimise distraction. He branded the behaviour ‘despicable’ and ‘disgusting’.
Pipe seems to be causing the most distraction possible when faced with elimination.
Gilbert Ulang Match Fixing
Gilbert Ulang is a former professional darts player from the Philippines.
He’s not a former player by choice though. He was suspended by the PDC for being found guilty of match fixing.
Some of the other instances on this list can be debated as to whether or not they are ‘cheating’, in Ulang’s case though, it’s unanimous.
Ulang qualified for the 2017 World Championship where he was defeated 2-0 in the preliminary round by Kevin Simm.
This wouldn’t be noteworthy, however, the Darts Regulation Authority discovered that Ulang had intentionally lost the match.
As a result, he was suspended from playing professional darts for seven years – a sentence he is still serving at the time of writing.
The full report and details on the best involved were covered here if you’re interested in the details.
There you have it, these are the controversial cheating moments in darts that have been caught on camera at the highest level of the game.
Leighton Bennett Match Fixing at MODUS Super Series
Leighton Bennett was tipped to be a darts prodigy and “The Next Phil Taylor” after he beat The Power in an exhibition game aged just 13 years old.
He won the BDO Youth Championship in 2019 and looked like he could come good on his potential but in 2024, Bennett’s career is essentially over.
He’s received an 8-year ban from darts after being found guilty of match fixing by the DRA.
The investigation was brought about after the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) reported suspicious betting on a number of darts matches in the MODUS Super Series.
See more: Leighton Bennett banned for 8-years due to match fixing scandal
After an investigation, the DRA found Bennett to be guilty.
You can see one of the alleged matches on the video above and while we didn’t pass judgement when he was first suspended, it’s not too surprising to see him be found guilty…
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What did you think of this list?
Cheats or not cheats?
Some are definitely tricky to give a fair judgement.
When you’re standing 8ft from a board and throwing some tungsten, who would have thought there could be so many cheating controversies!
Not us, that’s for sure…
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