$1.9M in Pretend Bets Drove Polymarket Hype: WSJ – Decrypt

Crypto prediction market platform Polymarket paid dozens of largely college-age creators to movie themselves putting faux bets, and generally faking wins, on near-identical copies of its web site, based on a Wall Avenue Journal investigation printed Saturday.

The paper reviewed 1,105 movies from 10 creators posted since December, discovered a wager in about 70%, and decided that not one of the roughly $1.9 million in bets proven was actual.

They embrace a clip posted in January, which reveals faculty scholar George Makihara celebrating a $100,000 win on a wager that President Donald Trump would say “McDonald’s” that month. The Journal discovered that the footage Makihara was responding to had been filmed two months earlier. Trump by no means stated the phrase publicly that January, and greater than 50 actual accounts that positioned the identical wager on Polymarket all misplaced.

Creators have been seen seemingly coming into trades into dummy variations of the location, together with one on the misspelled area “poiymarket.com,” the Journal reported. A supply conversant in the matter revealed that the dummy web site had been constructed by Polymarket, whereas different movies seen by the paper indicated that the websites have been take a look at environments for the corporate’s engineers.

Whereas most movies confirmed faux bets being positioned, throughout 118 movies creators touted almost $900,000 in fabricated winnings on bets that might even have misplaced greater than $166,000. Creators have been paid roughly $2,000 to $3,000 a month and instructed to not disclose the association, based on the report, with some solely including “@polymarket accomplice” to their bios following enquiries from the WSJ.

Polymarket employs advertising agency Virality to handle the community of “clippers,” who the WSJ reported have been solely paid when at the least 60% of their viewers was based mostly within the U.S. The prediction market was pushed offshore in January 2022, following a $1.4 million settlement with the CFTC over failing to acquire correct registration within the U.S. In November 2025, Polymarket acquired approval to re-enter the U.S. market by means of a CFTC-licensed alternate, Polymarket US, although its important web site stays geoblocked for U.S. customers.

Polymarket instructed the WSJ it’s “dedicated to sustaining correct, truthful, and clear markets” and plans a complete audit of its promotional content material.

Polymarket within the U.S.

The findings complicate Polymarket’s push for mainstream credibility, because it faces pushback from state regulators within the U.S.

The CFTC, which claims unique jurisdiction, has taken a permissive line below Chair Mike Selig, who has warned that pushing the trade offshore into “unregulated house” dangers an FTX-style implosion and has knocked states for “regulating by litigation.” Many are doing simply that, casting occasion contracts as unlawful playing: Kentucky sued Polymarket and rival Kalshi this week over alleged unlicensed sports activities wagering, echoing earlier strikes by Nevada and Arizona.

The Trump administration has responded forcefully, suing states together with Illinois, Arizona and Connecticut to defend prediction markets from state regulation.

Democrats have raised separate alarms. Senator Elizabeth Warren has accused the CFTC of being “steamrolled” by the trade, citing a roughly 25% workforce lower and a drop in enforcement actions from 58 to 11 in a 12 months, and tying favorable rulings to companies linked to President Trump and his household. Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in Polymarket and an adviser to each it and Kalshi. Selig has additionally confronted bipartisan grilling in Congress over insider buying and selling, war-related betting markets, and offshore venues like Hyperliquid.