bet365 Becomes Official Betting Operator of the PGA Tour
The PGA Tour has announced bet365 as its first Official Betting Operator outside of the United States. Bet365 serves as the exclusive source for odds on the leaderboard and player pages for residents of Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Bet365 logos and branding will feature prominently across the PGA Tour’s media properties, including Discovery platforms. It is a major coup for the PGA Tour but also for bet365 because of the reach golf’s premium tour has. Golf fans are known for having a flutter on the outcome of tournaments, so bet365 expects big things from the partnership.
“The bet365 group are 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 as the PGA Tour platforms.”
The PGA Tour is well aware of the benefits it brings to the table. Scott Warfield, Vice President of Gaming at PGA Tour, spoke of the positives.
“We are excited to work with bet365 to expand the tour’s sports betting initiatives outside of North America. Bet365 was the first operator to integrate the tour’s official in-play betting product and they are poised for tremendous growth being on the forefront of in-play sports betting in golf. The tour continued to look for opportunities to innovate in new areas with a goal of engaging with fans.”
bet365 Was The An Early Adopter of the IMG Arena System
Mega-rich bet365 was the first online bookmaker to implement the IMG Arena golf betting system into its client. The system features a fully responsive leaderboard, live odds updated next to players, and text commentary for each player. In addition, there is an immersive 2D and 3D map of the course, including following the ball of each player once it is hit.
IMG Arena users have a plethora of stats at their fingertips, in addition to access to live streaming of tournaments. It is a fantastic app and perfect for anyone betting on golf tournaments.
Positive News After Several Items of Negative Press
Signing a deal with the prestigious PGA Tour gives bet365 the chance to improve its reputation in Australia. Bet365 is fully licenced by the Northern Territory Government but has suffered from negative press several times over the past few years.
For example, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission fined bet365 $2.75 million in 2016. The fine was a result of bet365 offering $200 of free bets to new customers. However, the bets were not 100% free because punters needed to deposit and gamble $200 of their money first.
The company found itself in the headlines for the wrong reasons in December 2019. A whistleblower spoke to ABC about the practices the company employed while he worked there for 18 months.
James Poppleton worked as a customer account supervisor for bet365. He revealed the company uses algorithms and restrictions to help it turn a profit. For example, it prevents big winning customers from placing large bets on sporting events.
Australian poker pro Daniel Laidlaw was subject to such restrictions. The New South Wales resident, who has US$1.375 million in poker tournament winnings, found his account limited without explanation. Previously, he was able to bet amounts that allowed him to win between $1,000 and $5,000. However, without warning, bet365 limited him to amounts that would yield between $5 to $10.
ABC obtained a screenshot of Laidlaw’s account, which clearly showed he had a risk of 0.0025. Poppleton the whistleblower explained this is one of the highest levels of restrictions and is a result of algorithms flagging Laidlaw as a successful punter.
