TKO is the parent company of WWE and UFC
In a recent interview with CNBC, TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro commented on the possibility of the WWE entering the sports betting market.
Endeavor created TKO group holdings in 2023 as part of a merger between World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) and Zuffa, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) parent company.
Since September 12, 2023, the WWE and UFC have worked under the banner of TKO. The merger was the first time in history that the wrestling promotion was primarily not controlled by the McMahon family.
TKO President shuts down the idea of WWE entering the betting market
While the WWE has engaged in partnerships with sports gambling companies in the past, these partnerships have centered around free-to-play pools rather than traditional betting.
The sports betting market continues to grow not just in the U.S. but in the entire world as we see a rise in the number of sports fans engaging in the betting market.
During his conversation with CNBC, the TKO President clarified that there are no plans for the WWE to enter the sports betting market.
“Not happening, 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 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 clarified.
Mark also noted that the group is already involved in sports betting with the UFC and the company believes that the younger audience enjoys the aspect of gambling in sports.
As per reports from 2023, WWE was interested in the idea of legalized bets in high-profile matches. The promotion also discussed this further with state gambling regulators.
However, this never materialized as it involved drastic measures, such as collaborating with a firm to secure match results in advance and to make sure that these match results did not leak.
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