The LPGA Invests in..... Gambling

Life tends to come at you pretty fast in this day and age.

Commissioner Mike Whan of the Ladies Professional Golf tour announced they're looking at investing in a shot tracking system, because gambling could be something that will help his tour.

A shot-tracking system and database would help the LPGA control the information used in a variety of prop bets unique to golf. “If we can get our heads around this we have a chance to bring a whole new audience to our tour, both in the states and around the world,” Whan said.

Also of interest - betting in Asia. As most who follow the tour know, many of its best players come from golf-mad South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and China, and sports betting from that part of the world is enormous.

Mr, Whan, as the article notes, is also preparing his players for the eventuality of sports betting, so they know about the ins and outs, and integrity matters.

This is a theme you'll notice quite often of late - a league or sport preparing for, or investing in, sports gambling. As well, we've seen takeovers, mergers, and positioning by existing online gambling sites, and bricks and mortar casinos, to lay the groundwork to hopefully succeed.

We've asked for a couple of years, and many have asked several times since -- what has racing done to prepare itself for sports gambling? What, as Mike Whan said, have they done to try and "bring in a whole new audience"?

Other than positioning themselves to get a slice of a sports betting pie by inviting a competitor on their premises, it appears not much.

If sports betting does explode over the next decade, and in tandem we see racing handles fall, I think it'll be once again because of racing's very apparent Achilles heel - its lack of vision.