Hollywood studios quietly ban staff from prediction market bets

Penske Media, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, now bans staff bets on casting & release dates.

The hit

Hollywood studios are quietly banning staff from betting on prediction markets, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The rules cover wagers on studio earnings, casting decisions, release dates & award nominations, & also bar tipping off friends or family. At least one employer has set up an anonymous hotline for reporting colleagues.

Why it matters

Prediction markets let anyone bet on who gets cast or when a film drops, turning studio staff with early knowledge into potential insider traders. Columbia law professor Joshua Mitts says an “explosion” of employers now need insider trading rules. Enforcement is hard: blockchain trades routed through mixers can make tracing bettors near impossible, even as platforms add surveillance tools.

The record

Penske Media policy	bans staff bets on award nominations, casting, production timelines & release dates
MrBeast company case	video editor made ~$5,000 using confidential information, fired & fined $20,000 (Kalshi)
US soldier charge	charged in April over alleged Polymarket bets using classified raid information
Google engineer charge	charged in May with fraud & money laundering over Polymarket bets tied to company data
BetOnline market pull	temporarily pulled its next James Bond market this week after sharp money favoured Callum Turner

What happens next

Watch the pending federal cases against the US soldier & the Google engineer, plus whether more studios follow Penske Media’s lead on formal bans.

Sources: Hollywood Bans Employee Use of Prediction Markets, Impacts Crypto Betting

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