Seems curiously parallel to the story of snooker and darts' popularity in the UK from the 60s through to the 80s - similar non-athletic 'leisure' sports that seem an unlikely candidate for professionalization. I wonder if the ease of televising it (it's in a small, indoor venue) has anything to do with it?

Couple of differences: in the UK, snooker was originally picked out as a good demonstration of the potential of color TV broadcasting; later on, it was boosted by tobacco sponsorships following the TV advertising ban - surprised in a way to see that the same didn't happen to bowling...