From being as welcome as a plague carrier in a medieval village, sports betting has, since the 2018 Supreme Court lifted the federal ban, become an integral part of the PGA.
At the recent CJ Cup of the PGA Tour, the event, for the first time, listed live betting odds. They were promoted and discussed widely during the televised event.
The PGA has so widely embraced sports betting because it now sees it as lucrative revenue source, but more importantly, a way to generate more fan interest. Like other sports, the PGA Tour has begun forming partnerships with gaming companies, including Draft Kings, Fan Duel, PointsBet and BetMGM while ESPN has introduced a line of shows devoted to sports wagering.
BetMGM provided betting odds for all four rounds of the CJ Cup, which occurred October 15-18 on the Golf Channel. They included odds for “open” and “current” odds to win, head-to-head matchups, top finishes, winning margin, wire-to-wire winner, holes-in-one and playoffs.
In announcing the partnership, Norb Gambuzza, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President, Media and Gaming, declared, “The focus of our sports betting partnerships is to engage fans in new and creative ways. As an element of that strategy, we began integrating live odds onto TOUR digital platforms in August and now we look forward to learning from this first-time test in a live telecast.”
Matt Prevost, BetMGM chief marketing officer, added, “The PGA TOUR has been a great partner for BetMGM. Being the first sports betting platform to integrate betting odds into a live PGA TOUR telecast speaks to the innovative nature of our partnership. We look forward to continuing to move the needle and work closely with the TOUR to produce great content.”
BEtMGM in August became the Official Betting Operator (OBO) of the PGA Tour. It takes bets on moneyline and point spread bets to parlays and futures.
This first time occurrence happened at a tournament that took place in Las Vegas on a golf course built by a casino owner, Steve Wynn.
