"I Hit the Jackpot": Influencer Videos Reveal Hidden Truth Behind Betting Wins

The moment U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned the word "McDonald's" during a live news broadcast, George Makihara, a college student in the U.S. watching TV, cheered in surprise and opened his Polymarket account.

On his computer monitor, scenes of him winning $100,000 in prize money played out.

Recently, social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram have been flooded with videos boasting success stories of people who supposedly made "easy money" by betting on Polymarket, a prediction market site.

However, the video posted by Makihara is completely fake.

He was merely acting out a realistic scene of winning money on a fake Polymarket simulation platform.

It is true that he earned money.

But that money was not won by betting on Polymarket; it was actually a "salary" provided by the company itself.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on June 21 (local time) that after analyzing over 1,100 social media videos promoting Polymarket and interviewing the creators involved, it was confirmed that Polymarket has been hiring dozens of creators to mass-distribute promotional videos that convey the message that one can easily make a lot of money on its platform.

Creators like Makihara received $2,000 to $3,000 per month from Polymarket but did not disclose this fact in their content.

It was only after the WSJ report began that they quietly started adding the tag "@polymarket partner."

U.S. federal advertising laws require that anyone receiving payment to promote a product must disclose their relationship with that product.

The hired creators did not actually place bets on Polymarket; they only pretended to trade on a fake site created by Polymarket that looked like the real thing.

The WSJ reported that to ensure these videos reached Americans—Polymarket's primary market—the company also hired social media experts known as "clippers" to spread the videos created by these influencers.

Polymarket claims it has no connection to such promotional content.

However, the WSJ reported that Polymarket hired "Viraliti," a marketing firm that manages "clippers" who specialize in spreading content.

The WSJ pointed out that this firm gave detailed instructions to the hired "clippers," emphasizing the importance of making the content not look like an advertisement and advising them not to use words like "Polymarket" or "Poly."

According to the analytics firm Tubular, Polymarket has garnered over 140 million views on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram by utilizing this type of viral marketing.

Regarding the report, Polymarket stated, "We are committed to maintaining an accurate, fair, and transparent market," adding, "As part of a rapidly growing industry, we are working to continuously improve how we earn the trust of our users and engage with them."

(Photo: Getty Images Korea)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.