BOSTON – The debate over sports books using official data from sports leagues or data from other sources they consider accurate and reliable remains a heated topic.

The issue dominated a panel discussion Tuesday at ICE North America in Boston.

Andy Levinson, senior vice president and tournament administer for the Professional Golf Association Tour, said the organization uses third parties to take its data and package and distribute the information for betting purposes outside North America. He said that should be considered the domestic model as well.

The discussion of forcing betting operators to use sports league data specifically rankled Ohio State Senator Bill Coley who said sportsbook operators shouldn’t be locked in a specific set of data.

“For the purposes of in-play betting, it needs to be accurate, timely and consistent,” Levinson said “We have average (of) 144 (golfers) playing in a tournament and 72 balls in play and 32,000 shots every week and each of those are a game within a game.”

The PGA Tour is the only entity that can provide accurate information with its Shotlink data that consists of a complex system of three miles of fiber optic cable, 60 cameras and 18 lasers, Levinson said.

“This is not something that can be replicated by some other source and should be used to settle any wagers,” he said.

Coley said sports leagues shouldn’t be “pigs” about insisting their data be used with heavy compensation because it wasn’t developed with sports wagering in mind. He compared it to the commodity’s future and how way much more is spent on wheat and soybean futures than sports wagering.

“The Chicago Board of Trade isn’t cutting checks to wheat farmers in Kansas and soybean farmers in Iowa,” Coley said. “The leagues have to be understanding. It’s like the line in Caddyshack with Bill Murray saying (in talking with the Dali Lama) ‘there will be no money, but when you lie on your bed (dying) there will be total consciousness.’”

Daniel Wallach, founder of Wallach Legal and co-founding director of the University of New Hampshire School of Law’s Sports Wagering and Integrity Program, said the use of league data is important for consumer confidence for in-play wagering and alleviates the potential for fraud and disputes over settlement of wagers.

“This debate shouldn’t be about using official data,” Wallach said. “It comes to price.”

American Gaming Association Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Sara Slane said integrity is at the core of the gaming industry and data needs to be accurate. She questioned the idea, however, of imposing any statutory mandate for use of data and worries about leagues having a monopoly over the use of their data.

When it comes to the PGA Tour, Levinson said there’s no other place it could come from unless it’s being pirated from the organization. Nothing else would be reliable, he added.

Some panelists said the use of official data in grading wagers is one way to get rid of the black market.

“The industry is moving to in-game wagers, and we need the most robust safety and data that is the most reliable and accurate as possible,” Wallach said. “There is more agreement than disagreement. The one sticking point is a price mandate.”

There is room for negotiations without a mandate, but Wallach said if one operator uses unofficial data for in-game purposes it could undermine consumer confident and drive more people to the illegal wagering market.

This article is a reprint from CDCGamingReports.com.   To view the original story and comment, click here.