WWE
TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro has addressed WWE’s future in legalized betting following reported 2023 talks with US state gambling regulators.
In March 2023, CNBC reported that WWE had held talks with state gambling regulators to legalise gambling on high-profile matches, with Michigan, Colorado and Indiana being named as targets for WWE in these plans.
In an update to this, CNBC would report that WWE had even registered with the Indiana Gaming Commission, while, the Colorado Division of Gaming would shoot down the idea of allowing bets to be placed on WWE matches.
Many other states would also dismiss the notion as a part of a follow up report, and for a long while there was little new updates on whether WWE were still pursuing these plans.
That is until now, as TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro was recently asked about WWE’s future in legalized gambling by CNBC.
Despite the reports from last year suggesting otherwise, Shapiro dismissed the idea of WWE pursuing sports betting, citing the conflict it has with the scripted nature of the product and the process behind creating it.
Shapiro said:
“Not happening. We’re not doing that. 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.
“We’re not gonna be asking Triple H, Paul Levesque, who runs our creative, to keep his scripts so under wraps that we can start sports betting. It just doesn’t jive.
“We are doing it with UFC, and it’s really growing, and keep in mind it really lends itself to sports betting – long cards, multiple fights, multiple rounds, submissions, grappling, the away someone’s taken down, the way somebody’s knocked out, so many props you can bet on. And the youth, young men specifically, love it.”
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In the same interview, Shapiro would reveal what Vince McMahon thinks of the current WWE product – follow this link here for full details.
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38 mins ago by Jamie Toolan