Everyone can relate to watching their favorite television show and thinking, “I knew that was going to happen.” While predicting the death of a romantic kinship provides a slight ego boost, it doesn’t lead to financial rewards. That may change depending on how the WWE’s plans for legalized sports betting shake out.
Why the WWE Is Exploring Regulated Gaming
A corporation like WWE has every reason to want to enter the gambling market. Some of the biggest sportsbooks already have deals with the wrestling enterprise, allowing them to host free-to-enter daily fantasy contests for some of the year’s biggest events. WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series betting provide a far larger opportunity for financial gain.
Because of the broad interest in those four premium live events, a sizeable subset of the public may be willing to wager money on the results of some of the largest matches. With online sportsbooks making nearly $55.5 billion in revenue, WWE understandably wants to get a piece of the pie.
Finding a Tag-Team Partner
Although the company wants to, and the demand from one of the most hardcore fan bases in the world would enjoy it, placing legal wagers on a scripted show can be tricky. Professional wrestling isn’t the strangest sport to have ever taken a wager, but it would undoubtedly be on the list.
WWE is also making the right move by focusing on states more open to trying out novel concepts. The company set its sights on Colorado, Indiana, and Michigan to explore the sports gaming scene. Indiana and Michigan are open to the idea, while Colorado didn’t want to participate in this tag-team effort.
There is betting for wrestling matches on certain offshore bookmakers, but if WWE wagering becomes available on some of our more trustworthy apps and websites, it will be a very new ballgame.
Not the First Scripted Betting Endeavor
For the naysayers that understandably hesitate to leave their fate into the hands of whatever Vince McMahon and company feel like doing that day, betting on a scripted product isn’t entirely new.
Several legal U.S. sportsbooks have odds for the Academy Awards each year. If you were lucky enough to nab Everything Everywhere All at Once when they were -145, you know there is money to make based on people’s pre-determined decisions. But how will the WWE ensure that everyone abides by the rules?
Allegedly, WWE is collaborating with the accounting company Ernst & Young to safeguard scripted match outcomes in the hopes that doing so would persuade authorities that there is no danger of results leaking to the public. Award shows have always cooperated with accounting companies like PwC and E&Y to keep results confidential.
Even though some people know the Oscar tally before it’s made public, writers don’t dictate the winners. Even if authorities approve gambling, the choice to take bets on the WWE is up to the sportsbooks.
There’s no final decision yet on the WWE’s plans for legalized sports betting. Nevertheless, the precedence that it may set could send shockwaves throughout the entertainment industry. We might see an over/under on Grey’s Anatomy seasons within a year.
