PGA Tour: Data Sales A Big Part Of Sports Betting Push

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We’ve previously learned that the PGA Tour hopes to reap 1% of the billions projected on sports betting. Based on estimates, that would put their annual haul at $7.5 million, or the price of one above average event’s purse.

Not much given the headaches that could come with legalized sports betting in golf.

But of further interest is this reveal in an unbylined AP story regarding the PGA Tour selling ShotLink data in lieu of a more direct partnership with betting houses.

The leagues argue that they are creating new betting products by enhancing the data that they sell to gambling companies. That is part of the reason these companies have been willing to pay for a product instead of simply writing the leagues a check.

The PGA Tour says it is creating new betting opportunities through its complicated (and expensive) ShotLink technology.

“ShotLink gathers data from every shot; there are more than 30,000 shots in a golf tournament,” said Andy Levinson, senior vice president for tournament administration with the PGA Tour. “We’re collecting multiple data points, and they are going to be potential betting points. There’s going to be opportunities over a season to have millions of markets created in golf. You’re talking about distance, ball location, whether it’s on the fairway or in the rough. If a player has a 10-foot uphill putt, there’s going to be historical data on that shot. Our sport is perfect for it.

“That requires 60 people every week; we have to lug 5 miles of cable,” he said. “We have cameras, laser systems around our greens. It’s an extremely expensive process.”

Volunteers man a majority of the Shotlink towers that gather information, though increasingly the Tour is leaning on an automated setup. Nonetheless, I do wonder how volunteers will feel about their job when it’s better known they are working to fill Tour coffers on the back of sports betting. Most probably won’t know or care, but it certainly is another element of the efforts to incorporate betting into PGA Tour golf.