Las Vegas is the epicenter for gambling, but its presence in the boxing, wrestling, and MMA worlds has also increased. The city hosts dozens of events, including the most recent WWE Friday Night Smackdown at MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 24th. WWE SummerSlam is also coming to Las Vegas in August at Allegiant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. However, the overlap between wrestling and gambling doesn’t stop with Las Vegas.
An Overview
Wrestling and gambling have been popular for decades — centuries even. The WWE’s origins go back to the 1950s, while the first known record of gambling dates back to 2300 BC. That said, both have seen recent spikes in popularity because of technological innovations. For example, the online gambling market will reach $100 billion in 2026. Various reasons can explain this, such as online casinos offering their customers promotions like deposit bonuses, free spins, and cashback bonuses. Additionally, these casino promotions and offers vary depending on the game someone is playing, from blackjack to roulette. Through these offers, players are given extra chances to win compared to land-based casinos.
Likewise, wrestling has spiked due to social media. For example, WWE’s social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, have a combined following of over 1.5 billion users. Looking at single platforms, the WWE has 94.2 million subscribers on YouTube. For perspective, that’s more than the NFL (11 million) and the MLB (4 million). That is a testament to the WWE brand's popularity in the online community.
Wrestling and Gambling
Las Vegas combines the popularity of wrestling and gambling offline and online, with influential casinos like MGM also having an online platform. But, as mentioned, Vegas isn’t the only place we’re seeing these two forms of entertainment merge. A great example is the Casino Battle Royale wrestling match by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Casino Battle Royale is a rumble rules battle royal match that began in 2019 and incorporates casino themes. For example, the match has 21 entrants, and each wrestler draws a card from a 52-deck of cards. The suit that they get — diamonds, clubs, hearts, or spades — will determine the group they’re placed in. Whoever draws the joker becomes the final entrant in the match.
Since 2019, AEW has created new versions of this casino-themed wrestling match, such as the Casino Trios Royale. This match has the same concept as the Casino Battle Royale, but instead of 21 entrants, there are three-person teams. In December 2022, the 2022 Casino Trios Royale winning team split a total prize of $300,000.
Gambling is often associated with films like James Bond, but we’ve seen more overlap between gambling and wrestling over the years. Cities like Las Vegas enable this overlap, offering many wrestling events at famous hotels and casinos. Still, we are also seeing it in other ways, such as modified matches like the Casino Battle Royale. Additionally, as technology continues to increase the popularity of both gambling and wrestling, it will be interesting to see if there is any more overlap in new ways.
