Online gambling business bet365 teamed with The PGA TOUR in a three-year marketing deal to become the series’ first Official Betting Operator (OBO) outside of North America.
First OBO Outside of North America
The online gambling group headquartered in Stoke-on-Trent in the UK will serve as the exclusive source of odds on both leaderboards and player pages of The PGA TOUR, as well as on the TOUR’s platform which offers fans of golf a 3d rendering of the golf course of every shot from each group, TOURCast, across markets in the UK, Ireland, and Australia.
“The bet365 group is delighted to be working with one of the most iconic brands in global sport. Throughout this partnership with PGA TOUR, bet365 will strive to continue delivering a market-leading in-play experience to our golf customers, both across our global sites and the PGA TOUR platforms.”
Spokesperson, bet365
As an Official Betting Operator of The PGA TOUR, bet365 will acquire the rights to use the series’ official marks and logos in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada, as well as to advertise within TOUR media and partner platforms.
In addition, bet365 will have a brand presence across all PGA TOUR media properties, including on PGA TOUR.com, an international market inventory managed by Warner Bros Discovery under a partnership with the TOUR. The bookmaker will also be present across other WBD platforms such as Golfdigest.com in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada.
At the Forefront of In-Play Betting
Scott Warfield, vice president of Gaming at The PGA TOUR, outlined that the partnership with bet365 would “expand the TOUR’s sports betting initiatives outside of North America,” noting that the bookmaker was the first to offer the TOUR’s official in-play betting product to its customers and that “being on the forefront of in-play sports betting in golf,” will help it to achieve “tremendous growth.”
“The TOUR continues to look for opportunities to innovate in new areas with a goal of engaging with fans,” Warfield concluded.
The UK-based bookmaker was the first to integrate IMG ARENA Golf Event Centre, the unparalleled sports betting solution which brings in-play interactive betting in golf to revolutionize the golf sports betting experience for bettors in global markets where betting is legal. Providing fast and comprehensive, shot by shot data, as well as live streaming and interactive course visualizations, the Golf Event Centre raised to new heights the level of bettor experience.
Bet365 is the latest high-profile sports betting operator to be named an Official Betting Operator of the TOUR, entering a prominent group that includes the names of DraftKings, theScore Bet and others.
Following the content and marketing deal with The PGA TOUR in 2019 which named the operator the first Official Daily Fantasy Game of the PGA TOUR, in July 2020 the parties expanded their partnership to name the Boston-based gambling firm the first Official Betting Operator of The PGA TOUR.
In March last year, the Score Media and Gaming and The PGA TOUR announced an agreement to designate theScore Bet as TOUR’s Official Betting Operator in the US and Canada.