{"id":328254,"date":"2025-12-03T15:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T15:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/328254\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T15:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T15:54:09","slug":"does-the-ufc-have-a-gambling-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/328254\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the UFC Have a Gambling Problem?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn Nov. 13, TKO heralded what it termed a \u201cfirst-of-its-kind sports partnership\u201d with Polymarket, the controversial crypto-powered platform that treats news events as tradable assets. This deal promises to place betting center stage \u2014 in the words of CEO Ari Emanuel, \u201ctransforming passive viewership into active participation\u201d \u2014 by integrating a real-time \u201cprediction scoreboard\u201d into the UFC<\/a>\u2019s octagon experience during broadcasts on Paramount\u2019s streamer. (In August, the studio revealed a $7.7\u202fbillion rights pact.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe timing wasn\u2019t optimal. On Nov. 4, UFC boss Dana White confirmed <\/a>an FBI investigation into the alleged fixing at a recent match after multiple online sportsbooks refunded bets following a fighter\u2019s suspicious loss. He explained he\u2019d spoken with the bureau\u2019s director, Kash Patel, a friend from Las Vegas who previously suggested he\u2019d like the UFC to partner in training his agents. Soon after, the issue magnified as reports emerged of other fighters having been approached<\/a> to throw bouts, federal authorities having flagged<\/a> a significant number of events and a wide-ranging FBI probe now apparently underway<\/a> to explore suspicious betting and manipulated outcomes. White, appearing on TMZ Sports, derided this all as \u201ctotal bullshit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMark Shapiro, president and COO of UFC\u2019s parent company TKO, tells The Hollywood Reporter that \u201cwe\u2019re aware of investigations into only two isolated incidents over the span of three years,\u201d adding that UFC hosts nearly 500 fights annually and \u201cworks with an independent betting integrity service, IC360, to monitor wagering activity on every UFC event, and took immediate action in both instances.\u201d The UFC\u2019s fight-fixing scandal has emerged as the NBA and MLB have recently faced their own crises in which players have been indicted in purported illegal sports-betting schemes. Yet mixed martial arts events are thought to be much more vulnerable to corruption.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the reasons: A single participant can determine the outcome of a match; most fighters earn low pay, which means that a bet is often worth more than a purse; and there\u2019s a lack of institutional guardrails, from a union to a standardized injury reporting process. Legal exposure aside, some observers think betting problems are a serious brand danger for the UFC, a promotional organization accomplished in skyrocketing MMA\u2019s popularity. \u201cThe possibility in sport of predetermined outcomes is an existential threat,\u201d says American University\u2019s N. Jeremi Duru, an expert in sports law. \u201cIf serious doubt is sown about true competition, then it\u2019s no longer even sport. It may be something else \u2014 art, theater, histrionics \u2014 and there might be an audience for extraordinary athletic feats that are predetermined. But that\u2019s a different audience than for competitive sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAttorney Jeremy Evans, who practices at the nexus of athletics and entertainment, agrees: \u201cThe big question becomes, \u2018Is this scripted?’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSmith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist, who\u2019s long consulted for players associations and leagues \u2014 including in a class-action lawsuit that MMA fighters won against the UFC for anti-competitive practices \u2014 believes that White, a classic showman, has perhaps safeguarded his organization by promoting what happens in the octagon as, above all, pure entertainment. For many fans, that\u2019s likely enough. \u201cThere\u2019s always economic viability for him in being what the WWE is,\u201d Zimabalist says, referring to the staged wrestling company, another TKO division.<\/p>\n

\n\tEnter Polymarket. The futures exchange, now valued at $9 billion, has been a lightning rod. It had operated in a legal gray zone until acquiring necessary federal licensing after President Trump was reelected. (Donald Trump Jr. is a key investor.) Critics contend that incentives-sensitive, real-world outcomes \u2014 including for disease outbreaks and political violence \u2014 risk being warped by inside information. The danger for sports is that competition can be reduced to a mere MacGuffin for betting. <\/p>\n

\n\tShapiro dismisses any concern, noting that UFC has maintained successful compliance protections for five years in its partnership with sports betting firm DraftKings. He insists that Polymarket\u2019s utility is \u201cas an information and fan engagement tool \u2014 a way to visualize what fans believe will happen in real time. No different from CNN or CNBC integrating Polymarket odds into their reporting on New York\u2019s recent mayoral race, congressional election coverage or the selection of Pope Leo XIV.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story appeared in the Dec. 3 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.\u00a0Click here to subscribe<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Nov. 13, TKO heralded what it termed a \u201cfirst-of-its-kind sports partnership\u201d with Polymarket, the controversial crypto-powered platform…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[65777,97,259,260,6493],"class_list":{"0":"post-328254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-business-features","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-mentalhealth","12":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}