SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The governance of the PGA Tour, the leading professional golf organisation for North America has stated its support for licensed US sports betting.
Speaking to USA Today, PGA Tour Chief Commissioner Jay Monahan stated that should the Supreme Court repeal PASPA federal laws, the ‘landscape of US sports would change forever’.
As a US pro sports stakeholder, Monahan believes that legalised and regulated betting is the only way to ensure long-term consumer protections.
“If it’s legalized and regulated, you get to a point where you can better ensure the integrity of your competitions. You can provide adequate protection for consumers, which doesn’t exist today. There are commercial opportunities for us, which is one of the things we’re here to do, which is to create and maximize playing and financial opportunities for our players”.
Monitoring US sports betting, Monahan and PGA governance have undertaken ‘comprehensive research’ of betting policy, best practices, and operational frameworks, advised by leading sports data and insights firm Genius Sports.
The PGA Tour has tasked Genius Sports with developing its ‘Integrity program’, with a view of delivering a complete betting monitoring system which will track all stakeholders associated with the professional game of golf (players, coaches, caddies etc..).
Put simply for Monahan the PGA’s stance on licensed betting is clear “The point some people will make is that we are now actively supporting legalized gambling. Well, yes, we are!”
“Because we want to protect the integrity of our competitions, protect the consumer, and there are commercial opportunities. And we have a fan-first mentality. We want to grow and diversify our fan base. There are a lot of things we are doing to address that, and this could be another avenue that contributes to that.
