What if you could bet on professional wrestling?
That’s what the WWE is looking into and the company is reportedly in talks with state gambling regulators in Colorado and Michigan reports CNBC. The idea is that people could bet on big matches, sources claimed.
While the sport’s matches are scripted, WWE is working with EY, also known as Ernst & Young, to secure the results of those matches so there’s no chance of it being leaked to the public.
The report stated that the Oscars and the Emmys use accounting firms like EY and PwC to keep results a secret.
Betting on the Academy Awards is legal and available through apps like FanDuel and Draft Kings, but it’s not allowed in most states according to the report. WWE cited this to prove that betting on scripted results “is safe.”
Sources tell CNBC that the results of the annual awards show are only known by a few people before the public knows. However, when it comes to WWE, the matches and storylines are crafted by a team of writers, which could lead to results being revealed prematurely.
“Allowing gambling on certain WWE matches would alter how matches are produced – and how storylines are created. In discussions about how gambling on wrestling could work, WWE executives have proposed that scripted results of matches be locked in months ahead of time, according to people familiar with the matter,” the report said. “The wrestlers themselves wouldn’t know whether they were winning or losing until shortly before a match takes place, said the people.”
For wrestling fans, this is what it could mean:
“The WWE could lock the results of Wrestlemania’s main event months ahead of time, based on a scripted storyline that hinged to the winner of January’s Royal Rumble,” CNBC reported. “Betting on the match could then take place between the end of the Royal Rumble and up to days or even hours before Wrestlemania, when the wrestlers and others in the show’s production would learn the results.”
If betting is allowed, it would be up to the gambling companies if they want to jump on board or not.
So far neither the WWE nor EY have commented on this.
According to a Michigan gaming spokesperson, the Michigan Gaming Control Board publishes a Sports Wagering Catalog. When updates to the catalog are approved, the information is shared publicly through the agency’s website and with sportsbook operators.
The Colorado Division of Gaming told CNBC “it is not currently considering and has not considered allowing sports betting wagers on WWE matches,” the report said. “A spokesperson noted Colorado currently has a statute prohibiting wagers on events with fixed or predicted outcomes, including the Academy Awards.”
A spokesperson with Michigan gaming told the network that the Michigan Gaming Control Board publishes a Sports Wagering Catalog. “When updates to the catalog are approved, the information is shared publicly through the agency’s website and with sportsbook operators.”
Wrestlemania 39 is taking place in Los Angeles this year at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium on April 1 and 2.