The PGA Tour's gamble: How the Tour embraced legal sports wagering and manages the pitfalls

AI-assisted summary
• Revenue from gambling has been lucrative for the PGA Tour, though specific figures are not publicly available.
• The Tour has implemented an Integrity Program to address concerns about potential issues like match-fixing and irresponsible gambling.
• While heckling at tournaments has increased, the Tour says there have been few instances directly attributed to gambling.

Gambling has been part of golf's soul since Scottish shepherds started knocking rocks into holes with their crooks. 

Indeed, Angus and Duncan probably had a three (gopher) hole carryover in the first Highlands Open, with a pint on the line. 

Think about it: Hardly a weekend match at every golf club in the world isn't without some kind of action. The first tee shot isn't struck until the partners for a four ball or the order for a game of Wolf are decided. 

The Nassau. The Calcutta. Automatic two-down press. The hammer, greenies, sandies ... there's an entire section of the golf language book devoted to gambling. 

The relationship between golf and gambling has been taken to a new, more lucrative level since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) in 2018. 

The PASPA Act had limited the spread of sports gambling beyond Nevada sports books and sports lotteries in Delaware, Oregon and Montana. And with its demise, the PGA Tour is among every other professional sport that is embracing the economic power of organized gambling — with guardrails to protect the sport's integrity. 

Given the green light by the Supreme Court, 39 states and Washington D.C. now have legal sports gambling, and no one could afford to ignore the implications or leave the cash on the table. 

"On that day in May of 2018, I think a lot of leagues had a decision to make," said Scott Warfield, the PGA Tour's Vice-President for Gaming. "They could sit on the sidelines or they could participate in the benefits while also protecting against the negatives, get closer to it and monitor it. It was a seismic moment for sports where everyone had to decide, 'are we going with where the world is headed?'" 

Stephen Miraglia, the Senior Director of Communications for DraftKings, the PGA Tour's official betting operator, said the Tour under current Commissioner Jay Monahan hasn't hesitated, albeit with an abundance of caution, to jump in the pool. 

"The Tour has really taken a forward-looking approach to sports betting," Miraglia said. "They understand the benefits and engagement it creates and understand the benefits to the consumer experience. If a fan has a little extra entertainment value on something, they are engaged and will stick around longer. And that's all it is, having fun with a few bucks and being able to do it in a fun and responsible way." 

ESPN BET and a sports book at TPC Scottsdale  

How much has the Tour embraced gambling?  

Once the decision was made, it was full speed ahead. 

The Tour has had associations with six operators between 2022-2024 to test the waters and now have three official betting operators, DraftKings, FanDuel and ESPN Bet. 

According to figures supplied by the PGA Tour, DraftKings and FanDuel account for 75 percent of the market share in sports betting. 

The Tour has also allowed the sports books to access the ShotLink technology to provide fans more options on a shot-by-shot basis. 

ESPN BET on PGA Tour Live (ESPN BET is an online sportsbook operated by PENN Entertainment) debuted at the WM Phoenix Open with two hours of streamed coverage before the network broadcast window, providing an early look at tournament storylines from a betting perspective. 

That coverage continued at The Players Championship and will return at the Truist Championship, The Memorial, the Travelers and the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the opening event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. 

The ESPN BET broadcast team of Jonathan Coachman, former PGA Tour caddie Michael Collins and past PGA Tour members Matt Every and Graham DeLaet provide content and debate the hole-by-hole betting possibilities with graphics and real-time data. 

Then came the most stunning association between the Tour and gambling: With the cooperation of the state of Arizona, the DraftKings Sports Book opened at the TPC Scottsdale on Oct. 19, 2023 under a market access deal with the PGA Tour. 

The 2,700-square foot structure can seat 390 people. There are 32 betting kiosks, six staffed windows and 3,400 square feet of video walls. 

Miraglia called it DraftKing's "flagship location." They have another sports book near Wrigley Field in Chicago. 

"We wanted to identify places with high foot traffic and what better place in Arizona than the TPC Scottsdale," he said. "In addition to the WM Phoenix Open, the course is open year-round and has bachelor parties, bridesmaids parties, buddy trips. It's a destination." 

Could such a facility ever open at the TPC Sawgrass? 

Warfield said current Florida law would preclude that. The only legal sports book in the state is Hard Rock Bet (the Tour does not have a marketing agreement with that casino ... yet) and the state legislature would have to get involved with a decision to expand that. 

But think of what's transpired at warp speed since 2018. There are almost no possibilities involving professional golf and gambling that can be dismissed. 

"Am I going to say you'll never see it again in another area? I will not say that," Warfield said. "I would never say never. But it would need to be the right tournament, the right host organization, the right club and in Florida, state law would have to change."  

Legal sports books and the money 

No sport can compete with the NFL for gambling interest, but the PGA Tour has carved out a nice piece of the action that peaks at the huge events such as The Players Championship and the majors. 

"There's a solid core group of golf fans among our users who are consistently betting on golf throughout the year, with interest spiking around the majors," said Adam Landeka, Vice President of Sportsbook Strategy and Growth for ESPN Bet. "The major and major-adjacent tournaments are the events that really break through with a larger betting audience of general sports fans." 

But how much are they betting? 

That's a closely guarded secret. 

Warfield, Miraglia and ESPN BET officials would not release any financial numbers or the handle that the PGA Tour generates. But suffice to say, they all agree that it has been lucrative. 

"I cannot tell you what the Tour's revenue has been from gambling," Warfield said when asked point-blank about the number. 

When asked if the ventures into gambling have been worth it, Warfield simply smiled and said, "it has." 

Miraglia was just as understated. 

"It's [revenue or handle] not something we provide on a sport-by-sport breakdown," Miraglia said. "But it's been profitable." 

One can only imagine, given the overall figures. Americans staked $147.92 billion in legal sports betting in 2024, according to the American Gaming Association, up 23 percent over the previous year. That's larger than the Gross National Product of countries such as Morocco, Ecuador, Kenya, Bulgaria and Panama. 

The AGA estimated that 95 percent of sports betting happened online, with revenue of nearly $14 billion. Revenue in 2021 was $4.33 billion, which means the total has more than tripled in four years. 

VIXIO Gambling Compliance has estimated the 2024 revenue will nearly double again by 2027 to as high as $25.5 billion.  

How is the public betting golf? 

The basic sports book or online bet in golf is picking a tournament winner, using a "money line." For example, in last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scottie Scheffler was listed as the favorite at +320 by DraftKings. That means gamblers could bet $100 to win $320 on Scheffler to win, or $10 to win $32. 

Fans can also bet on whether players finish among the top five or top 10 or make or miss the cut. 

But the nature of PGA Tour golf, with up to 144 players in the field, lends itself to numerous prop bet opportunities. 

For example, online customers or those at a sports book can bet on which player in a group will birdie No. 17 at the Stadium Course. They can bet on who wins the hole. 

Fans also can pick two players at random and bet on who shoots the lower score in a round or the tournament. 

When Tiger Woods set the record for the most consecutive cuts made in the Masters at 24 in a row, Landeka said the number of bets on Woods one way or another "was exponentially higher" than any other player in the field. 

"There are a bunch of different ways folks can get skin in the game with golf," Miraglia said. "The sport, on a shot-by-shot basis, lends itself to that." 

Golf also enables bettors to have time between shots to consider their wagers as opposed to football, baseball or basketball. 

"The pace of the game lends itself well to live betting, with ample time to refresh odds and markets," Landeka said.  

The heckling issue 

One of the early fears of the boom of online gambling was the combination of the PGA Tour allowing smart phones at tournaments (if they're kept in the silent mode and fans move away from play when making or receiving calls) and the rise of gambling apps on those phones.  

Within those apps, fans can make prop bets on almost every shot, while standing in a gallery. As a result, there were fears that fans with a bet down on one player might heckle another. 

One notable incident was at the 2023 BMW Championship at Olympia Fields near Chicago when a fan heckled Max Homa and Chris Kirk to try to get them to miss putts. 

At last year’s U.S. Open, a fan yelled to Bryson DeChambeau, “I’ve got $100 on you to shoot over 70.5 today!” Another told Viktor Hovland he was betting on him to make the cut. 

However, DeChambeau seemed unshaken and told the Washington Post earlier in the week, “I personally think if [gambling on golf] can help grow the game and bring in a bigger audience, I’m all about it.” 

Warfield said that while heckling has increased at Tour events, it's mostly fueled by alcohol and larger crowds, many of whom are unfamiliar with the basic etiquette of attending a golf tournament. He said there have been scattered incidents in the last five years where the Tour had suspicions that a fan was heckling a player because of a bet. 

"We have had very, very, very few what we call gambling-related ejections," Warfield said. "Now, that does not decrease the anxiety and the concern we have in that space. And that's why investment in security and, you know, fan behavior focus has been so, so key. Most of our incidents have been alcohol related." 

When a fan is ejected for heckling, Warfield said security personnel at Tour events ask nearby fans if they had any reason to suspect the heckling was related to a bet. That intel is then used to determine if a fan is banned for more than just that tournament on that day and is filed away for future consideration. 

And at least one of the notable incidents didn’t involve fans betting on a gambling app: Homa said the two fans at the BMW were betting between themselves, for $3. 

Warfield said the Homa incident shows that heckling can still be over an old-school way of gambling: two friends making an impromptu bet with each other, for a couple of bucks. 

"Someone could have had a bet through an offshore account," he said. "Or it could be just two buddies betting. In any situation, we do what we can to protect our players, protect our competition, make sure things don't happen and when they do, make sure that the perpetrators are penalized appropriately."  

What are the PGA Tour's safeguards and rules? 

Warfield said the PGA Tour's rules for players, caddies and anyone who holds a credential for a Tour event as part of a player's team are simple. 

"Don't bet on golf," he said. 

That goes for swing coaches, agents and credentialed media.

Players and caddies are subject to immediate suspension and others in an official party or the media will have their credentials revoked and banned from future events for an undetermined time. 

To date, two players have been disciplined for betting on golf, Korn Ferry Tour members, Vince India and Jake Staiano. They were suspended in October of 2023, India for six months and Staiano for three months, for violating the PGA Tour's "Integrity Program," which governs gambling. To date, neither has regained his status. 

The Tour's policy is to release the names of any player suspended for gambling on golf, the same as its policy on releasing the names of players disciplined for using performance-enhancing substances. Those are the only two actions in which the Tour does release names, providing a powerful incentive to avoid such behavior. 

When the Tour announced its ventures into sports gambling, it started its Integrity Program, partnering with Genius Sports and US Integrity. The Tour also works with the American Gaming Association and the National Council for Problem Gambling. 

"The first thing we did was develop a relationship with Genius Sports as our integrity partner," Warfield said. "So now all the players and caddies have to go through an integrity tutorial before they get a credential, they're very well aware of what they're allowed to do, not allowed to do." 

Players and caddies are not banned from betting on other sports. However, if they or a family member believes they have a gambling problem, the Tour has resources they can turn to such as Birches Health, a leading national provider of problem gambling treatment. 

Gambling involves risk. Please only gamble with funds that you can comfortably afford to lose.  While we do our utmost to offer good advice and information, we cannot be held responsible for any loss that may be incurred as a result of gambling.  We do our best to make sure all the information that we provide on this site is correct. However, from time to time mistakes will be made and we will not be held liable.   

Please check any stats or information if you are unsure how accurate they are. No guarantees are made with regards to results or financial gain. All forms of betting carry financial risk and it is up to the individual to make bets with or without the assistance of information provided on this site and we cannot be held responsible for any loss that may be incurred as a result of following the betting tips provided on this site.   

Past performances do not guarantee success in the future and betting odds fluctuate from one minute to the next. The material contained on this site is intended to inform, entertain and educate the reader and in no way represents an inducement to gamble legally or illegally or any sort of professional advice.  

Gannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions.  

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside. It is your sole responsibility to act in accordance with your local laws.