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Hollywood is putting its employees on notice: Stop betting on Tinseltown’s biggest secrets or risk getting busted.
Major studios and production companies are rolling out strict new rules barring workers from using confidential information to cash in on booming prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, with at least one company launching an anonymous hotline to snitch on suspected offenders, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The crackdown comes as the wildly popular betting platforms have opened up a lucrative new way for Hollywood insiders to profit from closely guarded secrets, from major casting announcements to which reality TV contestant gets the boot.
Entertainment companies have begun warning employees that placing wagers on unreleased casting decisions, studio earnings, production schedules and movie release dates is strictly off-limits. Workers are also prohibited from tipping off friends or family members who could place bets on their behalf.
At least one company has gone a step further, establishing a hotline where employees can anonymously report coworkers suspected of gambling on privileged information, the outlet reported.
The sweeping restrictions represent a new frontier in Hollywood’s battle against insider trading, which has traditionally focused on employees illegally profiting from confidential corporate information in the stock market.
But with prediction markets now allowing users to wager on everything from Oscar nominations to reality television eliminations, the potential for abuse has exploded.
“You now have, essentially, an explosion in the number of employers who have to think about insider trading rules from an ethical standpoint,” Columbia University law professor Joshua Mitts told the Hollywood Reporter.
“And totally apart from the question of criminal prosecution, is just the compliance problem — educating your employees on what’s allowed.”
Some Hollywood insiders have already been caught red-handed.
In February, Kalshi revealed that a video editor employed by YouTube superstar MrBeast’s company pocketed $5,000 by improperly wagering on confidential information about the creator’s content. The employee was fired and hit with a whopping $20,000 penalty.
Meanwhile, an April report from Puck exposed a worker connected to a CBS competition series who had allegedly been making money through prediction markets.
The potential for insider betting extends far beyond studio boardrooms.
Television employees, production crews and even audience members attending prerecorded shows could potentially exploit advanced knowledge of what happens on programs like “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show.”
The frenzy has also reached Hollywood’s biggest casting mysteries.
Betting website BetOnline temporarily suspended wagers this week on who will portray the next James Bond after a sudden flood of money poured in for British actor Callum Turner.
The unexpected surge sent Turner soaring past longtime favorite Jack Lowden, raising concerns that someone might have gotten wind of a closely guarded casting decision.
The site’s representative blamed the suspicious betting activity on “sharp money,” prompting fears of a possible leak.
Prediction markets have also faced scrutiny outside Hollywood.
CNBC reported in July that suspicious wagers tied to US military operations in Venezuela and Iran had raised alarms about potential insider trading.
A former teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump was also suspended amid an investigation into whether he used confidential information to place trades on Kalshi.
Both Kalshi and Polymarket have said they are taking steps to combat insider trading, but catching Hollywood’s would-be betting bandits could prove difficult.
Professor Mitts warned that blockchain-based platforms can allow sophisticated users to conceal their identities through multiple transactions and intermediaries, making suspicious wagers nearly impossible for employers to trace.
Federal regulators are also grappling with which prediction markets should be permitted.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has indicated that wagering on awards shows such as the Oscars and Emmys can be allowed, while raising questions about bets involving reality competitions and game shows.
In a bizarre legal twist, federal law already explicitly prohibits futures contracts tied to movie box office receipts, a restriction dating back to the Onion Futures Act of 1958.
