Studios Bar Staff From Betting on Casting and Release Dates
Summary
PMC's new handbook bans wagers on nominations, casting, production timelines and release dates, The Hollywood Reporter found.
"Hollywood studios and production companies have issued internal guidelines barring employees from betting on prediction markets with inside knowledge of earnings, casting and release dates, The Hollywood Reporter reported in an exclusive by James Hibberd and Alex Weprin. The rules also forbid passing tips to friends or family who then place bets, and at least one company has set up an anonymous hotline for reporting colleagues.
THR's parent company, PMC, which also owns Variety and Deadline, updated its employee handbook in recent weeks to ban betting on ""award nominations, casting decisions, production timelines and release dates."" The report cited Kalshi markets on the next James Bond and on Wonder Woman casting, and said BetOnline briefly pulled a Bond market after sharp money moved Callum Turner to the top of the odds.
Enforcement is the open problem: employers struggle to trace wagers, especially on blockchain platforms, and Columbia professor Joshua Mitts told THR detection can be ""basically impossible."" The report noted that futures on box office receipts are explicitly prohibited under the Onion Futures Act of 1958, while the CFTC has signaled Oscar and Emmy markets should be allowed."
