Polymarket Goes on Charm Offensive: "Trust Us, We're a Legit Casino Now" 🎲

Polymarket launched a U.S.-focused marketing and partnership campaign to rehabilitate its image after a four-year absence from the American market, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. The prediction platform is working with social media influencers on TikTok and other platforms, and has signed deals with Major League Baseball, major sports franchises and news outlets including CNBC and CNN.

The campaign builds on Polymarket's December launch of a CFTC-supervised mobile app that lets users wager real money on sports outcomes. Head of U.S. operations Dan Lee said the international volume had long overshadowed domestic progress. "I think having the international business being the bulk of the volume, it often sort of masks the progress we are making here in the U.S. to broaden Polymarket's acceptance," Lee told AP. The company's X account now has 1.7 million followers and posts about current events several times a day; rival Kalshi, which has operated under CFTC oversight since 2020, has 431,400.

The marketing push follows a Wall Street Journal investigation last month alleging Polymarket paid influencers to promote simulated trades and winnings without proper sponsorship disclosures. The company told the WSJ at the time it was "committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets."

Polymarket exited the U.S. four years ago under a $1.4 million CFTC settlement that found it had offered unregistered event-based derivatives. In late 2024, federal law enforcement officers raided the Manhattan home of CEO Shayne Coplan as part of a probe into whether the platform had continued serving U.S. users after the agreement, according to reporting at the time. Investigations by U.S. prosecutors and the CFTC were dropped seven months later without charges.

The company acquired CFTC-licensed exchange QCEX roughly a year ago, clearing a regulatory path back to U.S. customers.