The identical bets that received thousands and thousands within the promotional clips incurred losses for merchants in actuality.
Current findings by The Wall Avenue Journal (WSJ) have revealed stunning 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 have been staged on copycat variations of its web site.
Based on a report from WSJ, Polymarket paid college-age creators to stage as much as $1.9 million in faux bets. The investigation crew assembled by WSJ reviewed a minimum of 1,105 movies posted by these creators and located none of them to be actual; they’d 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 could 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 received on its web site. Nevertheless, in actuality, these trades have been positioned on dummy websites like poiymarket.com, created to mirror the actual platform.
Out of greater than 1,000 betting movies from 10 creators promoted between December 2025 and mid-Might 2026, none have been actual. Whereas advertising corporations pushed the movies to get extra views, the creators have been advised to chorus from disclosing that they acquired funds for the clips. As a part of the scheme, the creators typically altered headlines and used outdated footage to indicate they received the bets, even when the winnings have been faux.
Polymarket Again within the U.S.
Apparently, the identical bets that received thousands and 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; nevertheless, in actuality, the identical bets would have incurred over $166,000 in losses.
Moreover, a creator claimed they received $100,000 after U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned the phrase “McDonald’s” in January. As found throughout the investigation, Trump by no means mentioned the phrase publicly that month, and the clip used to justify the successful was older. Sadly, a minimum of 50 accounts that truly positioned that guess on Polymarket all misplaced.
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As considerations concerning the promotional content material come up and investigations intensify, lots 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 USA after securing a greenlight from regulators. The platform intends to audit its promotional content material following the revelations.
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