It is official, BetMGM and the PGA Tour are now in a partnership. This is coming off of a previous deal that partnered up DraftKings and the Tour a week earlier.
BetMGM now has the ability to create before and after Tour events to share with bettors. The Tour has multi-year content and marketing opportunities that allow the usage rights to BetMGM.
The Deal This new partnership will allow the usage of PGA Tour trademarks, advertising within PGA Tour media, and with other partner platforms. The goal here was to reach fan engagement and to maximize betting strategy. BetMGM already had some access to the Tour through partnerships with various players. These players are:
Joel Dahmen
Max Homa
Ryan Moore
Kevin Na Pat
Perez Jimmy
Walker Boo Weekley
So this was only a matter of time for this deal to go through. They already had a presence in the game, and now they finally have a full operation available. To further add to the positives for BetMGM, their sports betting platform is powered by the New Jersey-based ROAR Digital LLC.
This deal is a partnership with MGM Resorts International and GVC Holdings Plc. This particular holding group already has heavy ties with other popular major sports. Now the family is almost completely adding PGA to their betting opportunities.
How We Got Here
The Tour has been leading up to this moment for quite some time. Rather it was going to be BetMGM or not. They were at least getting ready for a move like this since 2018.
Shortly after the Supreme Court’s repealing of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, the Tour was able to put in place an integrity program that was going to collaborate with Genius Sports. This was set to protect its competitions from any sort of betting-related corruption.
A year later, the Tour made news of a global partnership with IMG Arena to license its official, live scoring data to allow betting operators all over the world the use of their information. Needless to say, this was the cherry on top for sports betting fans. This move also further helps along with sports betting and the legal aspect of things.
As noted in a recent American Gaming Association news update, bettors are beginning to switch to legal markets versus illegal bookies. https://www.americangaming.org/new/new-study-finds-sports-bettors-abandoning-bookies-for-legal-market/
Further Engagement
BetMGM already has a large fan base and is highly respected as a sports betting and gaming platform. Adding the PGA Tour to their lineup of betting options is another win for them. The industry has a remarkable opportunity on their hands here.
Their advanced betting technology, in addition to the Tour’s world class talent of players, has the potential to make this betting opportunity one of the forefronts in focus. In addition to BetMGMs sleek app and the Tour’s mobile presence, you will most likely see an increase in engagement from fans of both. This also means more traffic to these sites and of course more revenue.
Conclusion
This move also will accelerate sports betting strategies and further opportunities for bettors. As the Tour is heating up with their schedule back on track, betting options are becoming more popular and fans can capitalize on this movement.
BetMGM and the PGA Tour are going to see the benefits immediately from this deal. It is not clear as to who really will benefit more here, but it could arguably be the fans. As such, this has the power to reach new fans and provide more engagement for current ones.