DraftKings and PGA Tour’s TPC Scottsdale Sportsbook Launching Soon

Article ByDavid Weir

October 12, 2023

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Posted in: Arizona Gambling News, US Gambling News, US Sports Betting News

In a groundbreaking move, DraftKings and the PGA Tour are approaching the launch of their new sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale, a renowned Arizona golf course that hosts the WM Phoenix Open.

This collaboration is the first permanent venue of its kind in golf betting, providing fans with a unique experience – for now.

The DraftKings sportsbook at the golf course is now set to open later in October, after it broke ground on building work in 2022. The year-long build shows the commitment to building something special with this 13,000-foot addition to the list of Arizona retail sportsbooks.

The increasing ties between the PGA and sportsbooks have been well apparent over the past couple of years. BetMGM and FanDuel have worked with the PGA in some capacity, and now DraftKings is in.

Golf Betting Experience

The sportsbook, situated next to the TPC Scottsdale clubhouse, spans 13,000 square feet.

Fans attending the Phoenix Open next February will have easy access to the venue, which will feature 40 betting kiosks, seven ticket windows, and a staggering 3,400 square feet of video walls to display continuous sports action. Plus, of course, drinking and dining options for the full-service experience.

“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,” said Ezra Kucharz, DraftKings chief business officer.

“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.”

Nationally, online sports betting holds some 95%-plus of the market, compared to their retail sportsbook counterparts. For example, Arizona online sportsbooks took in $390 million of state bettor’s total wagers of $393.2 million in July 2023.

By integrating sportsbooks directly into sports league venues, operators may hope to change this trend.

Pioneering Partnership in Golf

Tour commissioner Jay Monahan acknowledged the surge of legal sports gambling and its impact on engagement across various platforms, including network broadcasts, cable broadcasts, and social media.

“When you look at legalized sports betting, we’re seeing more engagement (in legal markets) when we look at our network broadcasts, our cable broadcasts, our social media platforms,” he said.

“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.”

Unlike most sports leagues, the PGA Tour has made gambling immediately accessible where the games or events are being played, setting a distinctive precedent in the industry.

Of course, other Arizona retail sportsbooks are in the same complex as sports stadiums.

However, neither FanDuel at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Caesars Sportsbook at Chase Field in Phoenix, or BetMGM at State Farm Stadium in Phoenix are as integrated with the venue as the new DraftKings book at TPC Scottsdale.

“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,” Monohan said.