Other data companies will send people to events to transmit scores, because even a few seconds’ head start to when the live scores are posted online can make a big difference to bettors. To enforce the rights, the tours’ tournaments ban transmitting live scores on-site. Earlier this year, IMG approached the tours about ripping up the last two years of the contract and extending it right away, Allaster said.

He pointed to his own situation as a commentator for Tennis Channel, where he covers matches that have players competing that he also represents on the ATP board.Įnetpulse, a Danish company, struck its initial deal with the tours in September 2011 for a term lasting through 2016.

(Gimelstob at one point in his playing career was represented by IMG). He said he is comfortable with the IMG relationship and noted that tennis is often rife with the appearance of conflicts. Justin Gimelstob, an ATP board member, confirmed that the new deal stretches through 2020. IMG also has an employee on the WTA board: Carlos Fleming, vice president of talent management. IMG has an employee on the ATP board of directors, Gavin Forbes, senior vice president of IMG Tennis, though he recused himself on the matter, sources said. IMG is a dominant player in tennis, and some within the ATP, sources said, worried about conflicts of interest. The deal internally was controversial within the ATP, though not because of gambling - rather because the data company is owned by IMG, which acquired it in 2012, one year after the original deal with the tours. “The board has approved and authorized management to enter into an agreement with IMG/Enetpulse,” said WTA Chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster.

While the amount of tennis-related gambling in the United States is small, overseas, even obscure matches can garner heavy interest on betting sites. The deal gives Enetpulse the rights to all ATP and WTA live scores, and it sells that information largely to gambling companies. The category itself only came into existence for the tours in 2011, and it underscores the global demand that gambling companies have for in-the-moment tennis scores. The extension comes two years before the agreement was set to expire. The ATP and WTA tours have agreed to renew their live-scoring deal with IMG-owned Enetpulse with a six-year extension valued at more than $30 million, sources said.

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