For as much as people like to joke about sports being rigged and games following a pre-determined script, the truth is it would be almost impossible to get every necessary participant on the same page to make that realistic — and get everyone involved to shut up about it.
That’s why it’s so enticing to bet on sports. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, not even the people involved.
Leagues go hard to protect that perception. The NFL didn’t suspend Calvin Ridley an entire year simply for betting on his own team to win a game. That heavy-handed punishment was a message to everybody else.
Pro wrestling, though, is a sport that never has to worry about match-fixing because, well, that’s kind of the point. Every result is pre-determined, which is precisely why the WWE’s reported interest in allowing betting is so ridiculous. More than a few people will have an advantage.
According to a CNBC report, WWE is in talks with state gambling regulators in Colorado and Michigan to legalize betting on high-profile matches, citing the Academy Awards as a template for why it could work. The thought is that since awards are known by a select few people before they’re publicly announced and people are allowed to bet on those winners, the same can be done for WWE matches. WWE is even working with the same accounting firm as the Oscars to make sure scripted match results remain a secret, according to the report.
It sounds like the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.
Colorado and Michigan are two of just a handful of states to even allow betting on the Oscars — and those results aren’t scripted (that we know of). WWE consumers wouldn’t necessarily be at a larger risk than other bettors, but the problem is the unfair advantages that would potentially exist. I’d be surprised if WWE finds many states willing to assume that risk. Better yet, I’d be surprised if many sportsbooks are willing to offer odds on a market that could be manipulated so easily.
Even in the likelihood that WWE employees are prohibited from placing bets like they are in other leagues, what would stop people in the know from passing information on to someone else? I don’t care how secure the results of a wrestling match are. Too many people have a hand in the outcome — executives, writers, wrestlers, referees — to expect information not to leak.
It all sounds sketchy to me.
