Current findings by The Wall Road Journal (WSJ) have revealed surprising particulars concerning the promotional content material of the prediction platform, Polymarket. As reported, nearly all of the successful bets that drove the platform’s viral progress had been staged on copycat variations of its web site.
In keeping with a report from WSJ, Polymarket paid college-age creators to stage as much as $1.9 million in faux bets. The investigation workforce assembled by WSJ reviewed no less than 1,105 movies posted by these creators and located none of them to be actual; that they had no blockchain hint and couldn’t be verified by any digital ledger.
Pretend Bets, Pretend Winnings
On the core of the Polymarket enterprise marketing campaign is the declare that every one trades are settled in USD Coin (USDC) on the Polygon blockchain. These trades are public and will be verified by anybody. Whereas the prediction platform has led its campaigns with this declare, the corporate’s promotional content material suggests in any other case.
Polymarket has been paying creators $2,000 to $3,000 a month to submit movies of bets seemingly positioned and gained on its web site. Nevertheless, in actuality, these trades had been positioned on dummy websites like poiymarket.com, created to reflect the true platform.
Out of greater than 1,000 betting movies from 10 creators promoted between December 2025 and mid-Might 2026, none had been actual. Whereas advertising corporations pushed the movies to get extra views, the creators had been informed to chorus from disclosing that they obtained funds for the clips. As a part of the scheme, the creators typically altered headlines and used outdated footage to indicate they gained the bets, even when the winnings had been faux.
Polymarket Again within the U.S.
Apparently, the identical bets that gained hundreds of thousands within the promotional clips incurred losses for merchants in actuality. About 118 clips reviewed by WSJ confirmed creators celebrating roughly $900,000 in wins; nonetheless, in actuality, the identical bets would have incurred over $166,000 in losses.
Moreover, a creator claimed they gained $100,000 after U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned the phrase “McDonald’s” in January. As found through the investigation, Trump by no means mentioned the phrase publicly that month, and the clip used to justify the successful was older. Sadly, no less than 50 accounts that really positioned that guess on Polymarket all misplaced.
As considerations concerning the promotional content material come up and investigations intensify, a lot of these creators have eliminated the faux bet-winning movies from their social media accounts. Moreover, Polymarket has taken down the dummy web site, poiymarket.com.
These accusations come as Polymarket re-enters the US after securing a greenlight from regulators. The platform intends to audit its promotional content material following the revelations.
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