Hollywood studios ban workers from gambling on movie secrets as company sets up snitch hotline

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...