Betting On LIV Golf
Online sportsbooks offering LIV wagering are available in every state, even though the state-regulated sportsbooks are often not among them. This means that online sportsbooks like MyBookie, BetOnline and Bovada are going to be the best option for LIV bettors. Regulations vary state to state, but most state-regulated books have the same rule: you have to bet on actual sports. The way this is defined requires a governing body, as well as rules and regulations, and in many states, also requires specific approval for additional sports. This means that FanDuel, for example, only offers LIV betting in a few states, while BetMGM is not offering any odds on LIV events at the moment. These online sportsbooks taking US players are not only available in more states than the state-regulated ones, their international status means they can offer LIV odds immediately.
What Is LIV?
The LIV Golf Invitational Series is a competitor to the PGA funded primarily by the government of Saudi Arabia, which is awash in money, and able to compete with anyone. Many bettors were surprised by the news that Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and others were set to join the LIV Golf Invitational Series and stop playing on the PGA Tour. LIV offered better base salary and higher prizes generally, and managed to poach several of the top PGA players.
What Is LIV’s Betting Format?
LIV is currently composed of eight summer events. Seven of these events are 54 hole, three day events, similar to the PGA Tour, wherein golfers play 18 holes a day, with cumulative scoring across all three days. The first of these events – taking place in London – has already happened, with Charl Schwartzel coming out on top, even though the field contained competitors as good as Dustin Johnson.
As an international sportsbook, Bovada does not have to deal with the headache of regulations inside the US to offer wagers on LIV. This means that they got a head start on offering odds on the newly crowned golf betting king, and they were able to offer odds before any US sportsbook. Bovada is also available in more states than any state-regulated book, which means that the vast majority of people will be best served by using Bovada to wager LIV, rather than any other book, due to their coverage and odds availability.
BetOnline is the most crypto focused sportsbook in the world, accepting more than a dozen cryptocurrencies from the established ones like Bitcoin to speculative ones like Dogecoin. This focus on cryptocurrency makes them a great place to achieve excellent betting bonuses for using crypto, such as their 100% Crypto Matching Bonus that you can access with the code CRYPTO100. With this bonus, and the use of crypto, you can make your money go farther as you wager on the inaugural summer LIV season.
A sportsbook known for catering to the weird and out-there, it was no surprise that MyBookie had odds on LIV events almost as soon as the full field was announced. MyBookie will even offer fun prop wagers on who the next golfer to join LIV will be. With Charl Schwartzel’s victory in the first LIV event, it’s likely that his team could be a favorite in the next one, and MyBookie will be a great place to look to find odds on it.
LIV 2024 Event Schedule
Date | Location | Country |
---|---|---|
February 2-4 | El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba | Quintana Roo, Mexico |
February 8-10 | Las Vegas Country Club | Las Vegas, NV |
March 1-3 | Royal Greens G&CC | King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia |
March 8-10 | Hong Kong Country Club | Hong Kong, Hong Kong |
April 5-7 | Trump National Doral Golf Course | Doral, FL |
April 26-28 | The Grange Golf | Adelaide, Australia |
May 2-5 | Sentosa Golf Club (Serapong Course) | Singapore, Singapore |
June 7-9 | Golf Club of Houston | Houston, TX |
June 21-23 | The Grove | College Grove, TN |
July 12-14 | Real Club Valderrama | Sotogrande, Spain |
July 26-28 | JCB Golf and Country Club | England, Great Britain |
August 16-18 | The Old White Course | White Sulphur Springs, WV |
Betting On Teams In LIV Events
LIV not only features individual golf prizes, but also team prizes, wherein groups of golfers compete together against other groups as well as individually over the course of the tournament. Team betting on LIV events is an intriguing wrinkle available mostly at online sportsbooks due to the issues that state-regulated books have with providing LIV odds.
In the first event, Stingers GC, the team that tournament winner Charl Schartzel was on, took the $3 million team prize. The team was composed of Hennie Du Plesse, Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Schwartzel. Schwartzel and Du Plesse finished first and second in the tournament respectively, so the team won the title easily.
Live Betting On LIV Golf
Since LIV takes a similar, multi-day format to the PGA Tour, there are plenty of ways to bet live odds on LIV events at online sportsbooks. Live betting odds allow you to place wagers on tournament winners as the tournament is ongoing, which can be a useful hedging too if you made pre-tournament futures wagers. You can also use this to double down on previous positions, or take new ones. Sportsbooks offering special live LIV odds, such as live props, can be hard to find. But as LIV becomes more popular, so will the live betting lines.
LIV Golf Betting Types
LIV events offer multiple ways to wager, and as the events become more widespread, sportsbooks will begin offering more unique odds on them. For now, betting types are still limited especially at state-regulated sportsbooks, some of which do not have LIV odds at all. The most varied betting options can be found at online sportsbooks.
Best LIV Golf Wager Types
- Futures – Wagers on the winner of events or on the team that will win the team championship.
- Team Head To Heads – Head to head wagers are available on individual team matchups.
- Individual Head To Heads – Betting on which golfer will finish with a better score.
- Props – Bets on unique occurrences, such as Eagles.
- Live Odds – Wagers that have their odds updated over the course of the tournament.
LIV Sportsbook Bonuses
Since LIV is so new, there are not a lot of sportsbook specific bonuses for LIV, so bonus hunters will simply be looking for the best bonuses on signup. The majority of online sportsbooks bonuses come in the form of deposit matching bonuses, while the state-regulated sportsbooks tend to offer free bets in order to write them off on their taxes. The deposit matches are preferable, as they actually give you the money and you can bet it as you like, whereas the free bets are only one bet.
Top LIV Sportsbook Bonuses
- Bovada’s 50% Bitcoin Match Bonus Up To $750 - Code: BVSBITCOIN50 - Rollover: 5x
- MyBookie - 50% Sports Welcome Bonus Up To $500 - Code: MYB50 - Rollover: 10x
- BetOnline - 100% First Time Crypto Bonus Up To $1000 - Code: CRYPTO100 - Rollover: 14x
PGA Tour Suspends Players Who Will Compete In LIV Events
The PGA Tour responded to this well-funded rival cropping up by attempting to mark their territory, and suspending any player who participated in a LIV event from the Tour. This notably does not apply to the US and British Opens, which are open tournaments and thus can be entered by the LIV golfers.
Players Suspended By The PGA For Playing A LIV Event
- Sergio Garcia
- Talor Gooch
- Branden Grace
- Dustin Johnson
- Matt Jones
- Martin Kaymer
- Graeme McDowell
- Phil Mickelson
- Kevin Na
- Andy Ogletree
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Turk Pettit
- Ian Poulter
- Charl Schwartzel
- Hudson Swafford
- Peter Uihlein
- Lee Westwood
Some sportsbooks are offering odds on who the next golfer to join LIV and get suspended from the PGA Tour will be.
Odds For Who Will Be The Next Player Suspended From PGA
- Justin Rose -180
- Bubba Watson -180
- Matthew Fitzpatrick +150
- Xander Schauffele +500
- Will Zalatoris +800
- Viktor Hovland +800
- Patrick Cantlay +800
- Collin Morikawa +1000
How To Watch LIV
LIV does not have a TV deal for the first “season”, which includes the eight events that are currently planned in the summer of 2022. Instead, they are a fully streaming model at the moment. You can watch LIV events on their website here, along with tournament replays after the event ends. They also offer highlights of each round of their events for easy consumption the day after. It is possible that LIV signs a TV deal, and this sweet streaming setup comes to an end, but until it does, you can watch LIV on most internet enabled devices, including smartphones.