While the sports gambling industry continues to grow in the United States, WWE won’t become part of it in the immediate future.
TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro told CNBC on Thursday that legalized betting on WWE matches in the U.S. will not be happening. It had been reported in 2023 that WWE was interested in making it legal to bet on high-profile matches. The company had talks with state gambling regulators, but — if the idea was going to become reality — WWE would have had to take steps like working with a firm to lock in match results well ahead of time and ensure they did not leak.
“Not happening,” Shapiro said. “It’s not happening. We’re scripted. Look, years ago I ran Dick Clark Productions. We had enough challenge keeping the American Music Awards and the Golden Globe winners under wraps [even] with an auditor that was there. 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. It just doesn’t jive.”
Shapiro said TKO is doing sports gambling with the UFC and believes the young audience — and young men specifically — loves the gambling aspect.
WWE and AEW have both had partnerships with sports gambling companies, but they have been free-to-play pools instead of standard betting.
