PGA readies sports betting foray for 2020

PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan is getting ready to embrace regulated sports betting in a big way. In a recent interview with the Agence France-Presse (AFP) at the Zozo Championship in Japan, Monahan struck a tone of acceptance that’s become more and more common as American professional sports leagues have stopped worrying and learned to love regulated sports betting in all its forms…and potential profit centers.
In the interview, Monahan talks about the future of sports betting and professional golf and hints at big moves for the organization in the near future saying, “You’ll start to see product in the market place next year.”
Though he doesn’t give much in the way of specifics, he hints at some possibilities using the term that professional sports commissioners have started to use in order to justify their recent embrace of regulated sports betting after years of fighting as nothing less than an existential threat to their future. That word is, engagement.
“You’ll start to see product in the market place next year,” Monahan said, “It’s all about engagement. … When done right, it gives fans the opportunity to engage with your sport over a longer period of time and have more interest in what’s happening across the entire player field.” It’s interesting to hear how the commissioner’s take on sports betting has evolved over time.
But what about the integrity of the game? That was the issue the leagues pushed in their arguments against regulated sports betting. Turns out that it was possible to fix that after all. All you have to do, Monahan said is, “…put the right systems in place, both in terms of an integrity … and monitoring activity.” OK then, we’ll look for more “engagement” from the PGA at sports betting sites soon.