By now, most individuals know that prime-time wrestling is scripted, however that’s not stopping World Wrestling Entertainment — generally often called the WWE — from pursuing the choice to permit folks to legally wager on its matches.
CNBC stories that WWE is in talks with state playing regulators in Colorado and Michigan to legalize betting on high-profile matches, catching many utterly off-guard.
Sources who spoke to the positioning stated the WWE is working with accounting agency Ernst & Young to safe scripted match outcomes “in hopes it will convince regulators there’s no chance of results leaking to the public.”
Sports betting world wide has grown into a large and extremely profitable enterprise lately, however this newest information has some elevating an eyebrow larger than Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson’s, as a result of WWE’s clear standing as sports activities leisure.
@TheRock / Instagram
As it stands, wrestlers are sometimes aware of the result of their matches effectively prematurely of filming, however Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio says that must change if legalized betting is accepted.
“The minute they tell people and it gets out, or even if it doesn’t get out, they’ll have people investigating them, and they’d be in an incredible amount of trouble for gaming violations and things like that,” Meltzer defined. “That’s nothing to mess with. They literally can’t do that. So the talent will not be able to know their finishes, at least in the matches that are being gambled on.”
Meltzer additionally famous that the WWE usually counts on its writers and wrestlers to craft and act out storylines across the outcomes of matches, which regularly unfold weeks earlier than a scheduled occasion. This might show tough and alter the best way the enterprise is run, if they’ll’t plan out a storyline as a result of they don’t know the tip results of a match.
“If Roman Reigns is going into that pay-per-view against Sami Zayn, and he doesn’t know if he’s going to win or lose until the last minute, how (does) everyone craft the storylines for the week before and the week after and where they’re going?” Meltzer famous.
Historically, Ernst & Young has labored with awards exhibits just like the Emmys and Academy Awards to maintain outcomes secret and permit authorized betting in some states, and sources advised CNBC that WWE executives have used Oscars betting as a template to persuade regulators that playing on scripted or predetermined occasions may be carried out safely.
Sports betting web site Action Network says “a lot” of individuals throughout the WWE sometimes know the outcomes of a match forward of time, together with high executives, key members of artistic groups and infrequently broadcast groups.
“And that’s just those we have a high degree of confidence in saying know the results beforehand. There are undoubtedly others,” the positioning notes.
However, the positioning additionally notes that the WWE is probably going pursuing Michigan and Colorado as companions in authorized betting because the gaming management boards in these states “tend to be more loose with their rules” and at the moment permit betting on occasions such because the Oscars.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.