US Senators Press CFTC to Probe Polymarket Over Fake Profit Videos Targeting Young Users
Summary
- US senators called for a federal investigation by the CFTC into Polymarket’s use of manipulated betting results and its social-media marketing.
- The WSJ said many influencer videos used old material and fabricated headlines to make it appear they had generated as much as $900,000 in profits, when they would actually have produced losses of more than $166,000.
- As Polymarket said it is conducting its own audit while facing a US service ban and a CFTC investigation, President Donald Trump said the CFTC should have exclusive regulatory authority over prediction markets.
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Polymarket, the prediction-market platform, is facing intensifying pressure from US lawmakers and advocacy groups over claims it used manipulated betting results in deceptive marketing aimed at young people.
The Wall Street Journal reported on June 26 that Republican Senator John Curtis and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff sent a letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig, urging an immediate federal investigation into Polymarket’s social-media marketing.
The push came after the Journal reported that Polymarket paid social-media influencers to record staged betting videos on fake sites, then hired overseas workers to spread the clips in the US. Polymarket has been barred from operating in the US since 2022.
The Journal said its review of 1,105 videos made by college-age influencers found that not one disclosed financial backing from Polymarket. About 10% of the videos used old material or fabricated news headlines to make it appear the creators had earned as much as $900,000. If those bets had actually been placed, they would instead have lost more than $166,000, the newspaper estimated. Many of the videos portrayed the trades as free money and urged viewers to invest.
In their letter, the senators said Polymarket’s reported conduct did not resemble a sound financial market built for price discovery or hedging. They added that they were deeply concerned about whether the CFTC, as the federal gambling regulator, was capable of properly enforcing the law. The CFTC is separately investigating Polymarket, the Journal reported, though the agency has declined to confirm that publicly. Polymarket said it is conducting its own audit of promotional content to support transparent markets.
President Donald Trump, by contrast, said the CFTC should have exclusive authority over prediction-market regulation to support industry growth, while criticizing politicians who support oversight by individual states. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is an investor in Polymarket and a paid adviser to rival Kalshi.
