WSJ: Videos of Polymarket 'Winning' Bets Were Bogus

The money looked easy, the trades looked legit, and, the Wall Street Journal reports, almost all of it was fiction. A Journal investigation finds that prediction market Polymarket bankrolled a network of mostly college-age influencers to film themselves "betting" and winning big on the platform—using carbon-copy dummy sites where no real money changed hands. In more than 1,100 TikTok and other videos reviewed, creators celebrate nearly $900,000 in fictitious gains on wagers such as whether President Trump would utter "McDonald's" or whether former Fed chief Jerome Powell would say "good afternoon" at a press conference. Federal law requires paid endorsers to disclose their ties, though the newspaper acknowledges "some gray area" on the subject.

Reporters Katherine Long, Caitlin Ostroff, Neil Mehta, and Brenna T. Smith write that Polymarket or its marketing contractor supplied talking points ("free money" shows up a lot), told creators not to disclose they were paid, and used a global "clipping" operation to repost the content to US users—even though Polymarket's main crypto platform is barred from serving Americans. The company said it was "committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets," and would evaluate its promotional content. Federal regulators declined to say whether they're investigating. For the breakdown of the fake trades, shadow marketing network, and regulatory stakes, read the full story.