Hollywood studios and production companies have begun issuing internal guidelines warning employees against placing bets on prediction markets tied to entertainment news, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter.
The new rules prohibit staff from wagering on events such as studio earnings reports, casting decisions, and release dates. Employees are also barred from passing along non-public information to friends or family members who might use it to place bets themselves.
At least one company has set up an anonymous hotline where employees can report colleagues suspected of placing such bets, the report said.
Prediction markets have expanded well beyond their original focus on politics and sports in recent years, now allowing bettors to wager on outcomes ranging from Federal Reserve decisions to Oscar nominations, box office results, and casting choices, including who will play the next James Bond.
Industry insiders with early knowledge of decisions like casting announcements or earnings figures could use that information to place winning bets before the news becomes public — a practice that mirrors insider trading in financial markets, where trading on non-public information is illegal.
The guidelines mark an early effort by studios to get ahead of potential misuse of these markets as betting on entertainment-related outcomes grows more common.
