Betting site pushes election wagers with US Influencers ignoring federal ban

Polymarket, a decentralized betting platform, has recently formed a selection of social media influencers based in the United States in order to promote the election betting services of the platform, even though federal regulators have banned US residents from participating in wagers on the site.

Bloomberg News reported that the platform's senior director of growth, Armand Saramout, extended invitations to influencers seeking sponsorship in September.

Recent posts on Instagram from several influencers reveal content sponsored by Polymarket, tagged with hashtags like #PMPartner and #PolymarketPartner. Influencers such as Eric Pan, known for offering personal finance advice, have reportedly entered into sponsorship deals with the site as well.

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Polymarket defended saying ‘99% of visitors consume news and never place a trade’

Polymarket’s spokesperson told Bloomberg News, “We’ve reached out to influencers on both sides of the aisle to promote our data and drive traffic and eyeballs to polymarket.com, where 99% of visitors consume news and never place a trade.” However, the spokesperson denied any intent to increase trading activity among U.S.-based users through these sponsorships.

Just last month, Polymarket launched an investigation into several major wagers, totaling $30 million, that were placed on former President Donald Trump winning the 2024 election. These bets were placed across four separate accounts, which the company later confirmed belonged to a single individual. After bringing in external experts to examine the wagers, Polymarket stated that they did not find any evidence of attempts to manipulate the market.

By midday on Election Day, Polymarket’s data suggested that Trump had a 60.1% chance of winning, while his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, held a 39.9% chance of victory.

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The platform allows one to bet on diverse results – sporting, entertainment and political events – using a digital dollar linked to a stablecoin. They then buy and sell stocks that reflect probabilities of certain events, for example the outcomes of the swing states, or of what the pollsters are predicting about who will win the popular vote.

Despite the US regulators have attempted to limit or shut down Polymarket’s operations in the States due to its offshore location, some Americans using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass restrictions.

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