Published on: November 11, 2024, 12:28h.
Last updated on: November 11, 2024, 12:28h.
A high-ranking official at WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) has stated that the professional wrestling organization has decided against having its events included on legal sports betting platforms.
Reports from last year suggested that WWE representatives had engaged numerous lobbyists to petition state legislators and gaming authorities to permit betting on pro wrestling matches. Currently, no state with legal sports gambling allows odds to be offered on WWE events.
The reason for excluding WWE from sports betting is mainly due to the fact that the matches are scripted, potentially allowing individuals with inside information about the outcomes to inform bettors beforehand.
Mark Shapiro, the chief operating officer of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of both WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), informed CNBC last week that the focus on including betting in the company’s WWE division has been abandoned.
Betting To Remain Outside the Ropes
During a discussion with CNBC’s Alex Sherman, who covers media and sports for the network, Shapiro strongly denied any interest from WWE in entering the legal sports gambling market. He dismissed the rumors from 2023 without hesitation.
Not happening,” Shapiro said. “We’re scripted.”
Shapiro explained that even during his time at Dick Clark Productions, where he oversaw the American Music Awards and Golden Globes, it was challenging to keep the winners a secret before the live broadcasts.
We’re not going to be asking Triple H, Paul Levesque, who runs our creative, to keep his scripts so under wrap that we can start sports betting,” Shapiro continued. “It just doesn’t jive.”
TKO was established last year following the merger of WWE and UFC, resulting in a company with a market value exceeding $21 billion. While WWE will steer clear of the sports betting realm, UFC under TKO is deeply involved in the industry.
“We are doing it [sports betting] with the UFC and it’s really growing. It [UFC] really lends itself to sports betting. Think about the long card, multiple fights, multiple rounds, submissions, grappling, the way someone’s taken down, the way somebody’s knocked out. There are so many props you can bet on,” reasoned Shapiro.
Shapiro added that the largest demographic in the sports betting sector is young men, with the UFC’s primary demographic being males aged 18-34.
Regulation 22
Nevada has long been viewed as the benchmark for regulating gambling in the United States. Consequently, many states that legalized sports betting post-2018 have looked to Nevada for its sportsbook regulations.
Nevada’s Regulation 22 covers race books and sports pools. Section 22.06 explicitly states that sportsbooks “shall not knowingly accept money or its equivalent ostensibly as a wager upon an event whose outcome has already been determined.”
Given that WWE matches are already predetermined by the league’s creative team prior to the wrestlers stepping into the ring, Nevada’s sports betting laws have consistently prohibited oddsmakers from offering bets on WWE events.