Polymarket accused of paying creators to film fake betting videos

According to Odaily, crypto prediction market platform Polymarket has been accused of paying dozens of creators, most of whom are university-aged, to film betting videos on pages closely resembling its own website, with some videos even showing fake profits. After reviewing 1,105 videos published by 10 creators since December, it was found that about 70% contained betting content, with approximately $1.9 million in showcased wagers not representing real transactions. 

One video released in January shows college student George Makihara celebrating a $100,000 win for betting that Donald Trump would say "McDonald’s" that month, but the footage was reportedly shot two months earlier; Trump did not publicly say the word in January, and over 50 real accounts betting on the same event on Polymarket actually lost money. Some creators were filming transactions on test pages, including with the misspelled domain “poiymarket.com”, which were allegedly built or used by Polymarket for engineering testing environments. 

In 118 videos, creators showcased nearly $900,000 in fictional profits, although these bets would have resulted in more than $166,000 in losses according to real outcomes. Each creator reportedly received a monthly payment of about $2,000 to $3,000, with instructions not to disclose the partnership; Polymarket stated it is committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets, and plans to conduct a comprehensive audit of promotional content. (Decrypt)