Across America it's Super Bowl week. In Arizona, it's Waste Management Phoenix Open week, and legalized sports betting in the state is driving a significant increase in appeal to bettors.
Sports betting in the state of Arizona officially went live on Sept. 9, 2021, making this the first year you can legally bet on the golf tournament in the state. The addition of sports betting in the state is driving significantly more golf action than other tournaments.
At FanDuel in Arizona, 4% of all bets last week were on the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. This week, as of Wednesday, the Waste Management has seen almost four times as much action in the state. With betting legalized for the first time in the Grand Canyon State for the tournament, the interest has clearly increased.
Through four days of the tournament, TPC Scottsdale typically attracts around 700,00 fans for a normal tournament. That's expected to be the case again after spectators were limited to 5,000 each day last year due to COVID.
That's a lot of potential bettors.
BetMGM, also live in Arizona, is seeing more action on the tournament locally than other tournaments.
It's not just Arizona seeing an increase in interest in golf this week. Nationally, PointsBet is seeing more wagers on the Waste Management Phoenix Open than typical in golf.
"We can likely chalk up the extra turnover to a combination of it being a popular tourney every year, as well as more eyes on the PointsBet app due to the Super Bowl," PointsBet trader Mike Hollenberg said.
Nationally, there's no surprise when it comes to who the public is betting.
Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth are the most-bet golfers at both FanDuel and BetMGM.
Spieth is BetMGM's biggest liability, having received more bets than anyone else in the field. Spieth is also the most-bet golfer at FanDuel.
The money is on Rahm — a +750 favorite — and Thomas (+1200).
Two longshots are seeing line movement at BetMGM. Keith Mitchell is down to +6600 from his opener of +8000. Aaron Wise opened at +12500 but is down to +8000.
