The Legal Grey Zone of Betting: What Shows Like WWE & UFC Don’t Talk About

When TKO Group Holdings combined WWE and UFC in 2023, resulting in a $21 billion entertainment giant, you might expect both brands to enter the sports betting market together. But while UFC has made betting a part of its event and advertising activities, WWE has been completely unable to do so, and still millions of fans are placing their bets through channels that neither of the organizations wants to discuss. 

Why WWE Can’t Get a Seat at the Betting Table

It is not a complicated problem. WWE fights are a scripted means of entertainment, and the authorities just don’t accept it. Colorado’s division of gaming made its position very clear in 2024, saying it would never allow bets on events that had “fixed or predicted outcomes.” Michigan and Indiana also gave the same answer when WWE came to them.

Look at it from a regulator’s point of view. If the results of the matches are predetermined, then those who have insider information could take advantage of that. WWE even engaged Ernst & Young to leak-proof the script, similar to how the Academy Awards guards Oscar results, but that still wasn’t enough. By the end of 2024, WWE’s operating officer openly declared that the company was giving up its betting inclusion efforts entirely.

And still, the Academy Awards sell betting in several states despite having predetermined winners. What accounts for the different treatment? Regulators are concerned about WWE’s long history of script leakage, often termed “dirt sheets,” which continually resurface online before the company’s major events. That is a gigantic integrity risk that state gaming commissions are not even going to come close to tolerating.

UFC’s Betting Bonanza

In the meantime, UFC is making a fortune from its betting partnerships. With real fights come unpredictable outcomes, and unpredictability is the main factor that drives the betting markets. You can bet on who will win, the method of victory, a particular round, or even on submitting and knocking out the fighters. The options for prop betting are almost limitless.

Moreover, the target groups are a perfect match. The majority of UFC fans are males between 18 and 34 years old, which is the same group that makes up the biggest portion of sports betting. TKO heads have been vocal about it: betting integration is a priority for UFC growth, while WWE will be pushed aside.

However, this is exactly what both companies do not want to talk about during their earnings calls and in press releases.

The Huge Underground Market That No One Talks About

WWE’s regulations and the tightly controlled UFC betting scenario may create the impression that only a small amount of wagers are placed, but in fact, a staggering number of $63.8 billion per year is wagered by Americans with unregulated operators. This is not an error. Almost 90% of the $23.1 billion that was staked on Super Bowl 2024 came through unregulated channels.

These illegal online gambling sites provide services from locations like Curaçao, Anjouan, and Costa Rica, where laws are not that strict. They allow betting on everything, including WWE matches that no U.S. state would dare to get involved with. And they are quite easy to find.

What is the reason for these platforms being so popular? Many betting enthusiasts, discouraged by state laws or wanting solitude, switch to platforms that provide betting without identification that operate in legal grey zones and do not conform to the verification rules. No driver’s license, proof of address, or social security number will be required from you. With only an email and cryptocurrency, you are placing a bet within minutes.

Such exchanges generally support digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and deposit and withdrawal processing is not subject to the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures that regulated sportsbooks impose. A few even refrain from seeking an email, merely a connection to the crypto wallet. It is quick, it is confidential, and it is totally removed from the regulatory context that WWE and UFC publicly talk about.

The Crackdown That’s Not Really Working

States are attempting to retaliate. In 2024, a united front of seven state gaming regulatory bodies, Colorado, Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, and Mississippi, urged the U.S. Department of Justice to target the offshore operators. Tennessee imposed a $50,000 fine on each of the illegal sportsbooks. Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania issued cease-and-desist orders that compelled companies like Bovada to limit their operations in 15 states.

But law enforcement is a tricky affair. These platforms run their businesses in multiple countries, and in most cases, U.S. gambling laws make it illegal to take bets, not to place them. Therefore, while the operators can be sued, the users hardly ever face the same. This results in a loophole from which millions of Americans derive their benefits without any restrictions.

The Risks They Don’t Advertise

When you decide to place bets for real money through unregulated channels, you cut off consumer protection, dispute resolution, and data security as a trade-off. For example, if an offshore sportsbook decides to withhold your winnings or abruptly shuts down, then you would be left without any recourse. There would be no complaints to file with the gaming commission, no regulatory body to investigate the matter, and absolutely nothing.

These unregulated gambling sites do not apply any kind of gambling prevention measures either. Such as, there would be no options for self-exclusion, no limit on the amount one can deposit, nor any source of information or support, etc. Your personal and financial data sits on these foreign servers whose security standards are questionable and are thus prone to breaches and exploitation.

Financial institutions are prohibited from knowingly conducting transactions with offshore sportsbooks, and this is the exact reason why these platforms are very enthusiastic about cryptocurrency. It is not only about privacy; it is also about going around the banking restrictions.

The Conversation That Isn’t Happening

To put it differently, UFC is in a paradoxical situation when it makes money from betting partnerships, and the other side of the coin is that WWE cries over its exclusion from regulated markets. Still, both entities are reaping benefits from the enormous shadow market where billions of dollars of bets are put on their events through entirely unregulated channels.

None of the promotions openly admits this fact. They are not going to say how their content leads to betting activities that do not bring any revenue to them, but at the same time expose their audiences to great risks. They are not going to tell how the limits set on WWE have not stopped the betting, but rather shifted it to the underground, where it is less safe.

This grey area will continue to grow until the development of more and simpler regulated betting options. And the organizations that are getting the attention and profit from it? They will keep on acting as if it does not exist.