https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/08/wwe-betting-scripted-match-results.html

WWE is in talks with state gambling regulators in Colorado and Michigan to legalize betting on high-profile matches, according to people familiar with the matter.

WWE is working with the accounting firm EY to secure scripted match results in hopes it will convince regulators there’s no chance of results leaking to the public, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Accounting firms PwC and EY, also known as Ernst & Young, have historically worked with award shows, including the Academy Awards and the Emmys, to keep results a secret.

Betting on the Academy Awards is already legal and available through some sports betting applications, including market leaders FanDuel and DraftKings
, although most states don’t allow it. WWE executives have cited Oscars betting as a template to convince regulators gambling on scripted matches is safe, the people said.

Still, while Academy Awards voting results are known by a select few before they’re announced publicly, they aren’t scripted by writers. Even if regulators allow gambling, betting companies would have to decide if they’re willing to place odds on WWE matches even if it’s legalized. Those discussions have yet to occur at betting firms, according to people familiar with the matter.

A WWE spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson for EY couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Gambling regulators in Michigan and Colorado didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under lock and key
If WWE succeeds in its bid to legalize gambling on matches, it could open the door for legalized betting on other guarded, secret scripted events, such as future character deaths in TV series.

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 wrestlers themselves wouldn’t know whether they were winning or losing until shortly before a match takes place, said the people.

For example, 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. 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.

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votes are sent directly to PWC and partially counted by a number of groups so that they dont know winners, then those partial counts are compiled by TWO people who commit those winners to memory before stuffing envelopes

PWC stakes a multi-billion dollar amount of credibility in its security to the point that the winners are never actually written down anywhere

its just not possible for WWE to lock things down that way. there are more people *in the ring* that know a match finish than there are people who know the Oscar results before the show. that doesnt include match producers, the entire creative department, the building effects team, etc etc.

theyve been trying to protect their trade secrets for decades and largely failing. this is never going to work.

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

<--- Big Baller World Order

And I believe there is a limit to how much you can win ($50???) because it’s scripted and it’s possible that people can get inside info

to betting to want to bet on WWE.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

on a tv show.

I'd rather bet on the weather.

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

>I'd rather bet on the weather.

http://i.imgur.com/vPqCzVU.jpg

They’ve locked things down in recent years so that only the people who need to know the results do, and no one besides Vince (now Hunter) knows ALL the results. A few years back there was someone from WWE leaking results to Reddit for every PPV and they turned out to be almost 100% right, so it began drastically changing the betting odds on the day of the event. Since that time, they’ve really tightened things up. It goes without saying that this will be an ongoing concern regardless, but I don’t see it as that much of an issue in reality. And if a major accounting firm is willing to put their rep on the line for this, that goes a long way.

I still think there should be limits on how much someone can win, just to be safe, but for big matches I think this will work. I question how surprises will play into it (like Brock showing up at the end of the MITB match a few years ago), but for the Rumble, major singles matches, etc. I don’t think there are as many hurdles as their seem at first glance. Injuries are the biggest one though. How can you truly lock in plans months ahead of time in this business? It’s easy to have things drawn up, but shit happens.

Another challenge is you lose the ability to change the match in the moment. Not that it happens all that often, but it does happen every once in a while based on injuries, crowd reaction, etc. With money on the line you either forfeit that right, or you have to write in a clause with the accounting firm that allows you to change the match and refund everyone who bet on it. That could get messy if it ever comes to that.