The PGA Tour will sell a live data feed from its proprietary shot tracking system to bookmakers outside the U.S. as part of a 10-year-plus gambling data distribution deal with the newly formed sports betting unit of IMG Media.
Beginning in 2019, IMG Arena, created last week by the agency that has deep roots in golf, will distribute to overseas gambling houses the tour’s live data gathered through its ShotLink technology, which tracks a trove of information that can be used to both set odds and resolve bets. The deal covers all global markets in which sports betting is regulated, excluding the U.S. PGA Tour executives said they will continue to consider a U.S. strategy as states enact sports betting regulations.
Financial terms were not disclosed. IMG Media signed a reported six-year, $30 million deal to distribute data from the ATP Tour and WTA to sportsbooks and oddsmakers four years ago. While tennis has a far more developed global betting market, the value of data rights to sportsbooks has risen dramatically since that time. As part of its PGA Tour deal, IMG also will distribute limited video for use on sportsbook websites.
“There has never been a fully live data service available for the sport of golf,” said Max Wright, IMG senior vice president and head of commercial. “Every other single sport in the sports betting sector benefits from having a rich array of choices of live data sources to power sports betting algorithms. For golf, that data simply hasn’t been available to date.”
The announcement of the deal comes only one week after IMG completed the formal rollout of London-based IMG Arena, which puts a name and website to a group that has operated as part of IMG Media since 2012, when it first secured rights to distribute tennis data to sportsbook operators. Those relationships evolved from the realization that the same live data that IMG distributed for use during broadcasts and in web products had value to bookmakers, who recognized a need for rapidly delivered official data as wagering during play gained popularity. Headed by Freddie Longe, senior vice president and managing director, IMG Arena now works with 40 properties, including the NHL, MLS and Serie A, delivering data to about 250 sportsbook operators.
The new IMG division will distribute to bookmakers the tour’s live data gathered through its ShotLink technology.PGA Tour
While IMG will distribute data to sportsbooks, the PGA Tour will continue to employ Genius Sports Group to monitor betting odds and provide other integrity related services. Like other sports properties, the PGA Tour has cited the threat of match fixing and the sale of inside information as chief concerns as sports betting is allowed in more states. PGA Tour Chief Legal Officer Len Brown said IMG will work to dissuade sportsbook operators from offering “negative” betting markets that can be influenced by one player intentionally performing poorly.
“Having official data out there is important in maintaining the integrity of the sport,” Brown said.
The tour for months had been in talks with a variety of data distributors for its international betting business, but chose IMG given the agency’s longtime involvement in golf. “They know golf,” Brown said. “It was a good fit.”
Look for IMG to get first shot at winning the tour’s U.S. gambling data deal in the not-so-distant future.
“As data distribution becomes more prevalent, we would obviously have the conversation with them,” Brown said.
Both Brown and Wright believe golf data could be particularly valuable, since it is difficult for an outside provider to replicate using event telecasts or on-course scouts.
While betting during events — known as in-play — has grown rapidly, it has lagged behind in golf, where the lack of official, real-time data has made offering odds on the result of an individual shot or hole a risky proposition for sportsbooks. Most betting on golf is static, with odds set at the conclusion of one round and betting stopped once the next round is under way.
Wright said IMG clients saw profits from in-play betting on tennis increase dramatically when they began using official data streams from the ATP and WTA.
“We see exactly the same set of circumstances transpiring here, except of course what you’re introducing is a brand-new live golf data service into a market where there has never been any live golf data service before,” Wright said. “So you’re really talking about not only the boost factor and uplift we have seen in other sports, but also a multiplier based upon the fact that no one really knows today what the future of live golf betting turnover could look like. It’s a huge green field that’s open in front of us.”
