WSJ investigation: Polymarket paid creators to stage fake winning bets

What the Journal found

The Wall Street Journal published an investigation on 20 June into how Polymarket, a prediction-market platform, promoted itself on social media. According to the newspaper, Polymarket paid dozens of mostly college-age creators to film themselves placing bets — and in some cases celebrating wins — on counterfeit copies of its own site, in a campaign aimed at drawing in U.S. users. The Journal reviewed 1,105 videos from ten creators endorsed by a Polymarket contractor between December 2025 and mid-May, and concluded that none of the wagers shown, worth roughly $1.9 million in total, were real.

In 70% of the videos the creator placed a bet, the paper reported. One counterfeit domain, poiymarket.com, appeared in 118 videos in which creators reacted to outdated footage or fabricated headlines suggesting they had won. Those clips showed almost $900,000 in winnings, while the same positions would have lost more than $166,000 on the genuine platform, according to the Journal's reconstruction.

The Makihara case and the payments

One featured creator is George Makihara, a college student whose January video showed him winning $100,000 on a wager that President Trump would publicly say the word "McDonald's" that month. Based on his videos, he appeared to place 145 bets worth almost $410,000 between January and mid-May; the Journal found none of them were real.

Creators were typically paid between $2,000 and $3,000 a month, the investigation says, and were told to keep the arrangement quiet. Only after Journal reporters began asking questions did the creators update their social-media profiles to describe themselves as "@polymarket partner".

The company's response

Polymarket said in a written statement that it is "committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets" and that it would carry out a comprehensive review of its active promotional materials. CBS News reported that the company is auditing its promotional content after the findings were published. The episode highlights how thin the line can be between influencer marketing and staged proof of profit in a market where trust in the numbers is the product.