Has Sky made golf the new king of in-play?

Features,Sports Betting

A major highlight of the British sporting summer for 146 years, The Open is one of the most anticipated golf tournaments on the professional circuit. Attracting fans from around the world, the event features the best players on the planet, as they compete for the coveted Claret Jug.

Although The Open has always been regarded as one of the biggest events in golf, and is an event that always attracts big viewing figures, it now has the added attraction for UK sports fans of being presented by Sky.

The pay-TV provider has provided excellent coverage of golfing events from start to finish for two decades, ensuring fans watching on television at home do not miss any of the key action. People might be sentimental about BBC coverage, but with cameras placed at key points on every hole, and the option to personalise coverage by switching between players, Sky viewers can be sure that they can keep up with the progress of their favourite golfer throughout the tournament.

While the standard golf fan benefits from a better service, these improvements also have implications for the event as a betting proposition.

All types of action.

Golf is very different to any other sport in terms of the amount of play happening at the same time. For example, one player could be teeing off on hole one, while another is setting himself up for a putt on the final hole, and another struggling to get out of a sand bunker half way round the course.

What makes this interesting in a gambling sense is that you can place bets on all types of action throughout an event and, with the help of Sky’s comprehensive coverage, keep up to date with how your wagers are faring. And if the wager does not go well, you can quickly move on to your next bet, with the option to focus your next in-play wager on a completely different market.

For example, while punters can still bet on the more traditional outright winner, they can also focus on certain areas of the course, such as the front nine and back nine, and bet on players to win these sections. Similarly, you can select a number of holes and wager on the player you think will fare the best.

Great TV coverage.

And the betting options do not end there for those who bet with operators that take golf seriously. Using Metric Gaming’s SuperLive Golf, punters can wager on the player they think will win in a certain matchup, as well as bet on a ‘mini tournament’ based on the par three, four or five winner.

Although much of the pre-tournament betting will focus on the outright winner, there is so much more to golf than just this, especially when it comes to in-play wagering.

Research from Metric Gaming suggests that as many as 80 per cent of sports bets are now placed in-play, as punters react to a players’ performance. And with great TV coverage and so much action available to bet on during golf tournaments, one could go as far as to say that golf could well be the new king of in-play betting.

By Martin de Knijff, CEO, Metric Gaming

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