DraftKings and PGA Tour partner to launch innovative Sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale

DraftKings is partnering with the PGA Tour to launch a one-of-a-kind Sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale. The venue, which has hosted the WM Phoenix Open before, will now be a hub for sports gambling as the two industries continue to collaborate.

This new partnership between the two has a 13,000-square-foot venue and is not very far from the TPC Scottsdale clubhouse. When fans return for the Phoenix Open next February, they will be able to get there pretty easily.

There will be 40 betting kiosks along with seven ticket windows. The venue will also have 3,400 square feet of video walls showcasing nonstop sports action. Dining and drinks are also available, so it will be a very popular spot to be at.

Ron Price, COO of the PGA Tour, and Jennifer Aguiar, DraftKings Chief Compliance Officer, are going to attend the Open when this comes to fruition, and ex-ESPN host Mike Golic will call the event.

DraftKings chief business officer Ezra Kucharz said via Golfweek:

“When you think about the experience of going in a venue and everybody’s cheering and watching on screens and you’re betting while watching, it’s an amazing experience. With a company like ours, you can choose to have an experience where you sit on your couch on your phone or you can come to a venue where there’s a lot more people and you can feed off the energy. … That’s why we do these things.”

This is the first major partnership between any form of gambling and the sport of golf. The PGA Tour is following the lead set by other leagues, who have partnerships with FanDuel, BetMGM, and many other gambling outlets.

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Gambling rise acknowledged by PGA Tour

The new partnership between the PGA Tour and DraftKings is not unprecedented in other sports, but it is rather new to the golf scene. Nevertheless, sports gambling has become a mainstream activity these days.

Jay Monahan discussed the PGA Tour partnership

Tour commissioner Jay Monahan discussed the rise of legal sports gambling when this partnership first came to fruition:

“When you look at legalized sports betting, we’re seeing more engagement (in legal markets). So when we look at our network broadcasts, our cable broadcasts, our social media platforms. The amount of time that people are spending researching play, researching what’s happening what’s happening in the field of play, researching historical data. There’s a level of intelligence that’s coming into our sport, a level of understanding that’s probably far greater now than it was five years ago.”

He went on to say how they're doing it differently:

“We’ll take the findings here and as opportunities present themselves, we’ll consider them. But this is unique. TPC Scottsdale, the WM Phoenix Open, this is not just unique in golf, it’s unique in all of sports. That’s what makes this the perfect opportunity for the first one.”

Most other sports leagues do not have gambling immediately accessible where the games or events are being played, which does set the Tour apart a bit.