The Wall Street Journal published an investigative report on June 21 exposing the deceptive marketing apparatus of Polymarket, a prediction market platform that markets itself on “on-chain transparency.” According to the report, Polymarket and its marketing contractor Virality set up imitation websites — such as “poiymarket.com” (replacing lowercase L with capital I) — that were nearly indistinguishable from the real site. Creators used these fake platforms to simulate trades and film videos purporting to show easy profits. Journalists reviewed 1,105 videos posted by 10 creators between December 2025 and mid-May 2026. About 70% of the videos displayed betting screens, but not a single one of the roughly $1.9 million in wagers was executed on the real Polymarket platform.
Fake Sites, Fake Trades, Fake Wins
Approximately 10% of the videos went further, using outdated news clips or fabricated screenshots to imply wins. A notable case involved college student George Makihara, who in January claimed he had bet $1,000 on “Trump saying ‘McDonald’s’ this month” and won $100,000 — but the clip of Trump saying the word was from two months earlier. On-chain data showed that over 50 accounts that bet on the same event that month all lost. Across 118 videos, creators displayed total fake winnings of nearly $900,000; if those same bets had been placed on the real platform, losses would have exceeded $166,000.
Targeting US Users Despite Ban
Since settling with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2022, Polymarket has been barred from offering services to US users. Yet internal guidelines obtained by the WSJ show that Virality required its “clippers” — low-paid social media users who reposted content — to receive payment only if at least 60% of their audience was from the US. In internal chats, the contractor also told clippers to avoid using “Polymarket” or “poly” in their account names to hide the relationship. Analytics firm Tubular found the videos garnered over 140 million views on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Creators were paid roughly $2,000–$3,000 per month, and most did not disclose the paid partnership until journalists started asking.
Multimillion-Dollar Deal with Adin Ross, Videos Discuss Insider Trading
Polymarket also signed a multi-million-dollar marketing contract with 25-year-old influencer Adin Ross. Ross spent about half an hour weekly browsing the platform and commenting on potential trades during his streams. At least five of his paid promotional videos discussed using inside information to trade — for example, using knowledge of Drake’s album release date to arbitrage. The WSJ found that Polymarket paid for at least 19 videos discussing insider trading opportunities, contradicting CEO Shayne Coplan’s earlier characterization of such concerns as “outlandish and baseless.” Ross himself is facing a federal RICO lawsuit and class actions for allegedly deceptive promotions on the gambling site Stake.us.
Two Marketing Scandals in One Month, Escalating Regulatory Pressure
On June 5, Politico reported that Polymarket CMO Matthew Modabber had transferred over $2.5 million via personal PayPal to 800+ creators between January 2025 and February 2026, with at least $350,000 going to those directly promoting Polymarket. About 24 identifiable influencers posted over 490 pieces of Polymarket content after receiving payments, none disclosing the relationship. Meanwhile, legal pressure mounted: in May, the DOJ charged a Google software engineer with using confidential information to profit about $1.2 million on Polymarket; in April, an Army sergeant was charged with using classified intelligence to gain over $400,000 in related contracts. On June 21, on-chain tracker Lookonchain reported three Polymarket wallets profited $24.25 million on World Cup prediction markets, with funds moved through the same Binance deposit address — suggesting insider trading.
Polymarket stated it is “committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets” and will audit active promotional content. However, competitor Smarkets CEO Jason Trost commented: “The core of an exchange is that the order book is real and auditable by anyone. Regulated exchanges keep settlement records and are accountable to the CFTC — that’s the reason.” For a platform built on on-chain transparency, relying on unverifiable off-chain fake videos as its growth engine represents a fundamental contradiction that undermines its trust model.