PGA Tour commissioner says betting leads to more engagement

The commissioner of the PGA Tour said that the league believes sports betting leads to more engagement.

US.- Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour, talked with the press at the Sentry Tournament of Champions this past weekend and discussed how sports betting could benefit the sport.

The PGA Tour has publicly voiced its support to a draft legislation that would pave the way for a federal regulation of sports betting. The measure was introduced by Senator Hatch late last year, but Monahan said that the league has been preparing for years for legalised sports betting, Golf Channel reported.

“Where we are from a gaming standpoint, I’ll break it down to two points. We have for the last couple of years put all the systems in place from an integrity program to monitoring program to our ShotLink technology in place so we can be in a position to participate,” Monahan said. “The reason we would do it is because we think gaming leads to more engagement.”

The commissioner also explained that he expects sports betting in golf to be a “second, third or fourth-screen experience,” which means fans would follow any potential bets as well as the usual tournament broadcast.