How Polymarket Reportedly Used Fake Winning Bets to Drive Viral Growth

Recent findings by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) have revealed surprising particulars in regards to 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.

According to a report from WSJ, Polymarket paid college-age creators to stage up to $1.9 million in pretend 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; they’d no blockchain hint and couldn’t be verified by any digital ledger.

Fake Bets, Fake Winnings

At 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. While 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 publish movies of bets seemingly positioned and received on its web site. However, in actuality, these trades have been positioned on dummy websites like poiymarket.com, created to mirror the true platform.

Out of greater than 1,000 betting movies from 10 creators promoted between December 2025 and mid-May 2026, none have been actual. While advertising companies 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 As a part of the scheme, the creators usually altered headlines and used outdated footage to indicate they received the bets, even when the winnings have been pretend.

Polymarket Back within the U.S.

Interestingly, the identical bets that received 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; nevertheless, in actuality, the identical bets would have incurred over $166,000 in losses.

Furthermore, 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. Unfortunately, no less than 50 accounts that really positioned that guess on Polymarket all misplaced.

As considerations in regards to the promotional content material come up and investigations intensify, lots of these creators have eliminated the pretend bet-winning movies from their social media accounts. Additionally, Polymarket has taken down the dummy web site, poiymarket.com.

These accusations come as Polymarket re-enters the United States after securing a greenlight from regulators. The platform intends to audit its promotional content material following the revelations.

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