A media report claims that prediction market Polymarket paid social media creators to promote fake bets and fabricate winnings online.
An investigation by The Wall Street Journal claims that Polymarket spread false and misleading information on social media as it promoted its prediction market to investors.
The newspaper says it reviewed 1,105 videos posted by 10 social media creators between December 2025 and mid-May of this year and found that 70% featured wagers that were not real.
The publication said the videos displayed roughly $1.9 million U.S. in fake bets and that Polymarket created dummy versions of its website for the social media campaign.
One video posted in January by a college student showed what appeared to be a $100,000 U.S. profit from a wager that U.S. President Donald Trump would say “McDonald’s” during the month.
The Journal reported that the clip used footage of Trump speaking the word two months before the bet’s resolution period.
Consequently, more than 50 real Polymarket bettors placed the same McDonald’s wager in January of this year and lost money as a result.
The report said Polymarket built imitation websites for promotional videos, including one hosted at “poiymarket.com,” a domain designed to resemble the company’s real website.
Across 118 videos reviewed by The Journal, creators celebrated nearly $900,000 U.S. in winning bets that did not exist.
The bets, had they been real, would have actually resulted in $166,000 U.S. of losses.
The Wall Street Journal report also says that social media creators involved in the scheme received $2,000 U.S. to $3,000 U.S. per month from Polymarket.
The social media creators were specifically instructed by Polymarket not to disclose their arrangement with the prediction market or what was really going on.
The social media campaign targeted American investors despite restrictions that prevent Polymarket from offering its prediction market platform within the U.S.
Prediction markets enable people to bet on the outcome of real-world events such as elections and sports contests.
Polymarket’s business is registered in Panama and it is viewed as an unlicensed prediction market within the United States. The company’s stock does not trade on a public exchange.
