Investigation on Polymarket confirms betting companies pay Influencers to post fake slips

A Wall Street Journal investigation of 1,105 Pro Polymarket videos posted by creators and influencers found that most were fake and that the bets placed were not on the main Polymarket website.

The WSJ study found that 778 of the 1,105 TikTok videos were fake and showed the creator appearing to place a bet on a Polymarket website, which turned out to be a dummy site. Many of these videos were circulated on social media, creating a false impression and misleading prospective gamers into playing on Polymarket.

For the bets that were actually placed on the Polymarket website and resulted in winnings. The study revealed that the majority of them were actually losses and outrightly misleading.

Polymarket came into the limelight during the last US presidential election, when many gamers made a killing betting on Donald Trump to win. The founder, Shayne Coplan, has been through some ups and downs with the law. In 2024, the FBI seized a cellphone and other electronic devices from the Polymarket CEO, with claims that the betting platform violated a prior settlement with the US government by allowing American-based users to access its platform. Polymarket also paid a $1.4 million penalty for operating an illegal, unregistered events market.

At the state level, the prediction market platform has faced issues in some U.S. jurisdictions. Last month, Minnesota became the first US state to ban the platform, but the ban has faced several lawsuits. In Spain, both Polymarket and its rival, Kalshi, are blocked as the state prepares for a more robust regulatory framework for gambling.

WSJ Reveal Confirms what Nigerian Netizens have always suspected

The Nigerian social media space, especially X, is saturated with tipsters and influencers subtly promoting betting to their millions of users. Some posts edited photos showing winnings running in millions, while running prediction groups where they often charge an entrance fee. Others are outright partners with betting platforms and earn more when their followers lose, as they are in revenue-sharing deals with these companies.

X has a 13-year-old age limit, so it is quite obvious that minors are exposed to these contents. Most gambling sites in Nigeria have very weak age-verification checks, and age checks are often reserved for withdrawal stages. Any 10-year-old can open a betting account and start betting in Nigeria, heavily influenced by the misleading winning stories on X.

Despite the WSJ study, there is still no smoking gun linking betting companies to influencers and tipsters in Nigeria. A previous article on this issue, published by a major business media outlet in Nigeria, has been taken down for an unknown reason.

Last updated: June 22, 2026