PGA Tour bolsters sports betting integrity program

The PGA Tour has agreed new agreements with Genius Sports and US Integrity to enhance monitoring capabilities as part of an expanded PGA Tour Integrity Program.

A new partnership with US Integrity, combined with an extension of the Tour’s existing relationship with Genius Sports, will provide the organization with best-in-class bet monitoring services through 2024.

“US Integrity is proud to partner with the PGA Tour and assist with maintaining the integrity of its golf competition across the world,” said US Integrity CEO and co-founder Matthew Holt. “US Integrity’s mission is to provide conflict-free, best-in-class insights and compliance solutions to our clients. We are looking forward to working with the premier golf tour in the world, featuring the biggest names.

“All our partners are committed to the highest integrity standards, and they are no exception. These types of partnerships help ensure sports betting integrity and strengthen the unique and proprietary anomaly-detection tools we have developed at US Integrity.”

The PGA Tour Integrity Program was established in January 2018 and covers all facets of competition and operations on the tours overseen by the PGA Tour, including players and their support teams, all tournament staff and volunteers, all PGA Tour employees and the PGA Tour Policy Board.

“We are excited to partner with US Integrity, as we look to continue ensuring the integrity of the PGA Tour,” said PGA Tour vice president of gaming Scott Warfield. “US Integrity along with Genius Sports’ commitment to protecting our sport, as well as their proactive approach, will play a pivotal role in assisting our operations with monitoring sports betting across our Tours.”

In addition to a continuation of the Tour’s longstanding partnership with Genius Sports, US Integrity will provide supplementary integrity-monitoring services via its proprietary dashboard, in an effort to proactively identify irregular contest-level, officiating and wagering patterns by conducting analysis across many data sets.

“We are delighted to extend our historic partnership with the PGA Tour,” said Genius Sports head of integrity partnerships Stephen Thurley. “As the sports betting landscape rapidly evolves across the US, it is imperative that sports are proactive in protecting the integrity of their competitions.

“This partnership ensures the PGA Tour continues to benefit from Genius Sports’ Bet Monitoring technology and Education services, as well as utilizing ‘Genius Intelligence,’ our ground-breaking fraud detection management system.”

The Tour will continue to work with Genius Sports to facilitate tailored educational programs for players, caddies and officials.  

Shares in Genius Sports Ltd (NYSE:GENI) closed 5.64 per cent higher at $5.43 per share in New York, but fell by 1.84 per cent to $5.33 in after hours trading.