WWE is looking to legalize betting on their scripted match results.
A new report from CNBC notes that WWE is in talks with Colorado and Michigan state gambling regulators about possibly legalizing betting on high-profile scripted match outcomes.
WWE has hired accounting firm Ernst & Young (known as EY) to secure scripted match results in hopes it will convince regulators there’s no chance of results leaking to the public. EY and other accounting firms have historically worked with award shows, including the Academy Awards and the Emmys, to keep results a secret.
WWE executives have reportedly cited betting on the Academy Awards as a template to convince regulators that gambling on scripted matches is safe. Betting on the Academy Awards is already legal and available through some sports betting apps, including market leaders FanDuel and DraftKings, which have been WWE sponsors in the past.
It was noted that while Academy Awards voting results are known by a select few people before they’re announced publicly, they aren’t scripted by writers like WWE matches are. Even if regulators allow gambling, betting companies would have to decide if they’re willing to place odds on WWE matches even if it’s legalized. Those discussions have yet to occur at betting firms, according to CNBC’s sources.
Allowing gambling on certain WWE matches would also change how matches are produced, and and how storylines are created. In talks about how gambling on pro wrestling could work, WWE executives have proposed that scripted results of matches be locked in months ahead of time. The wrestlers themselves wouldn’t know whether they were winning or losing until shortly before a match takes place.
An example given had WWE locking in the results of the WrestleMania main event months ahead of time, based on a scripted storyline that hinged to the winner of the Royal Rumble in January. Betting on the match could then take place between the end of The Rumble and up to days or even hours before WrestleMania, when the wrestlers and others in the show’s production would learn the results.
It was also noted that if WWE succeeds in its bid to legalize gambling on match results, it could open the door for legalized betting on other guarded, secret scripted events, such as future character deaths in TV series.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
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