Like Lucius Fox within the R&D Division of Wayne Enterprises, I stood surrounded by screens. Eyeballs bounced from one buzzing broadcast to the subsequent.
Was it sensory overload or was it sports activities bettors’ Shangri-La?
That was my first thought after I visited the DraftKings Sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale.
Positioned throughout the road from the 18th inexperienced of the TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course, residence to the WM Phoenix Open, the DraftKings Sportsbook opened in October 2023. The 13,000-square-foot facility options greater than 2,700 sq. ft of video partitions and screens, 32 betting kiosks and 6 ticket home windows.
Aside from an occasional March Insanity bracket or Tremendous Bowl packing containers, I’m not a sports activities bettor. I’ve been to some books however solely as a fan of getting seemingly each sport inside my peripheral imaginative and prescient moderately than truly inserting wagers.
Such was the case after I entered the DraftKings Sportsbook on a current project in Arizona. After a spherical on the Stadium Course surrounded by the WM Phoenix Open buildout and a fast bathe on the close by Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, we hopped on a shuttle amid festive households oohing and aahing on the resort’s Christmas points of interest. Minutes later, we had been on the sportsbook.
Regardless of the solar being down, limitless mild emitted from the venue as display screen after display screen pulsated with sporting occasions starting from Iowa-Iowa State ladies’s basketball to the Geese-Senators and Warriors-Rockets.
The venue may be divided into 4 most important areas. To the left are elevated personal cubicles with plush couches and chairs which can be nice for teams. Simply previous that’s the sportsbook flooring flanked by betting kiosks and ticket home windows. To the fitting was the big bar/restaurant blanketed with tables and cubicles and simply past that was an outside patio with loads of house to play yard video games whereas preserving a eager eye on any video games of curiosity.
Friends should be 21 or older to enter the wagering lounge and flooring contained in the sportsbook however friends of all ages can benefit from the restaurant and patio. All in all, the ability options practically 400 seats all through the inside and exterior with further standing room.
“This is a real popular spot for people in the Scottsdale and Phoenix areas because even if you’re not a sports bettor. You can come in, have a drink and get something to eat,” mentioned Johnny Avello, DraftKings Director of Race and Sportsbook Operations. “If you’re a sports bettor, it’s like heaven because you have all the amenities you need and all the screens to watch all the games.”
Unsurprisingly, the sportsbook is busiest on the preferred sports activities betting occasions of the yr: WM Phoenix Open, Tremendous Bowl, March Insanity and the Masters. Final yr, Christian McCaffrey and the Tremendous Bowl runner-up San Francisco 49ers had been the participant and workforce most wager on whereas MLB was the game hottest with bettors.
In 2024, its first full yr of operation, the DraftKings Sportsbook served greater than 109,000 wings and 12,000 pizzas whereas pouring greater than 18,000 Coors Gentle drafts and 17,000 Tito’s and sodas.
“If you want that true, post-golf hangout with the guys and have a couple of beers with a burger to watch the game, the sportsbook is a huge addition to the property in those terms,” TPC Scottsdale GM Brad Williams mentioned. “We’ve done a really good job attracting business there on the big sports days but we’re working hard to drive more pre- and post-golf activity to the book, too.”
For the 2025 WM Phoenix Open, the sportsbook doesn’t require a ticket for entry on Monday, Tuesday or throughout Sunday’s last spherical however every day tickets are required the remainder of the week, costing $175 on Wednesday and Thursday and $225 on Friday and Saturday. Tickets embrace complimentary meals, drinks for buy and normal admission entry to the event.
PGA Tour’s wager on betting
Following the repeal of the Skilled and Novice Sports activities Safety Act (PASPA) by the Supreme Court docket in 2018 that permitted authorized sports activities betting within the U.S. on a state-by-state foundation, North American sports activities leagues have gone all-in on the sector as a strategy to additional have interaction audiences whereas rising income with new companions.
The PGA Tour took a extra strategic method, studying from different organizations because the sports activities betting gold rush was off and working. The Tour introduced DraftKings as its first of 4 Official Betting Operators in July 2020.
The Tour introduced the Golfbet model in-house in February 2023 after initially launching it in partnership with The Motion Community in 2020. The Tour continues to double down on its betting choices with the upcoming launch of a dwell betting stream for six occasions this yr on PGA Tour Stay on ESPN+ starting with the WM Phoenix Open.
Actually bullish on betting, the Tour and its companions see golf as an ideal sport for wagering given its oft-criticized tempo of play which provides bettors the flexibility to put wagers between pictures moderately than merely choosing a pre-tournament winner as prior to now.
“It can be quite boring if you’re just betting a golfer to win, betting closes, then you have to wait four days, especially if he’s out of (contention),” Avello mentioned. “Doing it with all these options we have, it gives people a chance to re-up and get in new bets. Where they would have been out, now they’re back in again. … We’ve learned to keep people engaged in the game.”
Whereas the Tour—and different sports activities leagues and properties—are properly conscious of the worth of sports activities betting, determining methods to have interaction followers, notably given the state-by-state guidelines and regulatory complexities, stays a precedence.
PGA Tour Vice-President of Gaming Scott Warfield beforehand advised me it might be “quite challenging” for the Tour to aim to recreate the DraftKings Sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale elsewhere on the schedule however by no means say by no means.
“That one was such a unicorn and such a perfect storm,” Warfield mentioned. “… The stars would have to line up again and right now there’s nothing on the docket to replicate that because it’s just such a unique beast out there in Scottsdale.”
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