WWE may not be going to turn its fights – scripted events all the same – into betting markets to be offered by regulated sportsbooks.
Shapiro Says No to WWE Betting in Regulated Markets
Speaking to CNBC’s Alex Sherman, TKO COO Mark Shapiro said that these plans have now been put on the back burner, owing not least to the merger between the UFC and WWE.
Although Shapiro has been talking about the potential listing of such events, providing regulatory greenlight is granted, his most recent revenue dispelled the idea altogether, arguing instead that this is no longer a priority for the WWE.
“We’re not doing that. We’re scripted. Years ago, I ran Dick Clark Productions. We had enough of a challenge keeping the American Music Awards and the Golden Globe Award winners under wraps with an auditor that was there,” Shapiro briskly said.
He argued that it just didn’t make much sense to have the writers script the events, and then keep them under tight wraps to ensure that they would not leak. He said that he already had experience with scripted events as such and that was indeed not something that was pleasant to organize and run.
A U-Turn That Means WWE Betting Is Not Happening – Almost
This has not stopped others from running wagers on scripted events, including the WWE, however.
Despite Shapiro confidently signalling that betting on the WWE would not happen in the United States with regulated sportsbooks, many offshore bookmakers are actually more than happy to run wagers on these events, and they do so without inside knowledge of any sort.
Despite previous comments by Shapiro this year that the WWE might indeed seek to exploit the betting vertical to boost popularity and engagement, these plans now appear to be paused indefinitely.
