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Today’s guest columnist is Johnny Aitken, CEO of PointsBet USA.
After coming off the high of the 86th Masters, marked by the triumphant return of Tiger Woods to Augusta National—and followed by the dramatic finish at the PGA Championship—the sports betting industry is ready to channel that same energy at the U.S. Open. Emerging star Scottie Scheffler will likely shine this week in Brookline, Massachusetts—a state that’s looking to open the doors to sports betting, providing a perfect backdrop to establish sports wagering as a mainstream fixture within the golf community.
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Since the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018, sports betting has boomed in the United States. A report by the American Gaming Association (AGA) found that in 2021 sports betting generated $53 billion in total monies wagered. And while wagering on sports continues to surge in popularity as new legal markets open up, golf remains a small percentage of overall betting.
At PointsBet, wagering on golf has grown over 10 times since our entrance into the U.S. market, but it still only accounts for about 5% of all bets—with NFL, NBA, college football and college basketball taking the top spots.
The key to closing the golf wagering gap and elevating golf as a top betting sport is live, in-play betting and its potential to draw in a new generation of smartphone-wielding sports bettors. Historically in advanced markets such as Australia and Europe, data has shown the propensity to watch an event increasing up to five times if they’ve had a wager on it.
Going beyond the traditional bet types, such as outright tournament winner, is key to this. We’re able to create propositions where bettors can engage with the sport throughout the event, at different moments, and have bets resulted within minutes as opposed to waiting out the four days of a tournament. If a fan were to log into their PointsBet account throughout the U.S. Open, they…
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Source : yahoo
