How Polymarket Reportedly Used Fake Winning Bets to Drive Viral Growth

Recent findings by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) have revealed shocking details about the promotional content of the prediction platform, Polymarket. As reported, the majority of the winning bets that drove the platform’s viral growth were staged on copycat versions of its website.

According to a report from WSJ, Polymarket paid college-age creators to stage up to $1.9 million in fake bets. The investigation team assembled by WSJ reviewed at least 1,105 videos posted by these creators and found none of them to be real; they had no blockchain trace and could not be verified by any digital ledger.

Fake Bets, Fake Winnings

At the core of the Polymarket business campaign is the claim that all trades are settled in USD Coin (USDC) on the Polygon blockchain. These trades are public and can be verified by anyone. While the prediction platform has led its campaigns with this claim, the company’s promotional content suggests otherwise.

Polymarket has been paying creators $2,000 to $3,000 a month to post videos of bets seemingly placed and won on its website. However, in reality, those trades were placed on dummy sites like poiymarket.com, created to mirror the real platform.

Out of more than 1,000 betting videos from 10 creators promoted between December 2025 and mid-May 2026, none were real. While marketing firms pushed the videos to get more views, the creators were told to refrain from disclosing that they received payments for the clips. As part of the scheme, the creators often altered headlines and used outdated footage to imply they won the bets, even when the winnings were fake.

Polymarket Back in the U.S.

Interestingly, the same bets that won millions in the promotional clips incurred losses for traders in reality. About 118 clips reviewed by WSJ showed creators celebrating roughly $900,000 in wins; however, in reality, the same bets would have incurred over $166,000 in losses.

Furthermore, a creator claimed they won $100,000 after U.S. President Donald Trump said the word “McDonald’s” in January. As discovered during the investigation, Trump never said the word publicly that month, and the clip used to justify the winning was older. Unfortunately, at least 50 accounts that actually placed that bet on Polymarket all lost.

As concerns about the promotional content arise and investigations intensify, many of those creators have removed the fake bet-winning videos from their social media accounts. Additionally, Polymarket has taken down the dummy website, 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 following the revelations.

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