YouTube star’s empty account reveals promotional stunt
During the Super Bowl, Logan Paul appeared to be placing a $1 million bet on the New England Patriots through Polymarket, a cryptocurrency prediction platform. The company shared footage of Paul supposedly checking the platform at the big game. But here’s the thing—people started looking closer, and they noticed something odd.
Paul’s account had no funds in it. None. So that million-dollar bet? It was never actually possible to make. It was just for show.
Investigators confirm the deception
Crypto investigator ZachXBT took a deeper look. He reviewed the top holders of that particular market and confirmed that none of them matched what would have been Logan Paul’s supposed wager. He called the whole thing “yet another Logan Paul scam,” which I think references Paul’s previous CryptoZoo project. That earlier venture lost investors tens of thousands of dollars and resulted in multiple lawsuits that are still ongoing.
There’s also been some speculation about whether there’s an undisclosed relationship between Paul and Polymarket. ZachXBT noted that the WWE talent had livestreamed attempts to promote the platform before, describing those efforts as “inorganic.”
Broader regulatory challenges for prediction markets
This incident comes at a tricky time for these platforms. Polymarket’s prediction markets, along with rival platform Kalshi, are facing legal scrutiny in U.S. courts. Polymarket recently filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts to prevent the state from shutting down its sports betting markets. They’re arguing that federal law and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should be the only authorities regulating these contracts.
Meanwhile, Kalshi has faced criticism online for marketing prediction markets as an easy way to make money. Crypto commentator “DeFi_Dad” echoed Warren Buffett’s famous warning, calling the ads “rat poison squared.” The concern is that these platforms might be misleading users into treating gambling as investing.
Nigel Eccles, CEO of crypto casino BetHog, raised similar concerns. He suggested Kalshi’s ads target young adults with messages that encourage risky gambling. There are ethical questions here about underage and problem gambling that perhaps aren’t being addressed properly.
The aftermath and broader implications
In the end, Paul avoided any financial loss—Seattle defeated the Patriots 29–13 anyway. But this incident highlights ongoing issues around celebrity promotions of crypto prediction markets. There’s the legality question, of course, but also the ethics of marketing gambling-like products to the public.
It makes me wonder how many other similar stunts might be happening that we don’t know about. When platforms use celebrities to promote what essentially amounts to gambling, and when those promotions turn out to be fake, it erodes trust in the entire space. And trust, I think, is something the crypto industry can’t afford to lose more of right now.
The whole situation feels like it’s part of a larger pattern. Celebrity endorsements in crypto have had mixed results, to put it mildly. Some have been legitimate, but others have left investors holding the bag. This latest incident with Logan Paul and Polymarket just adds to that complicated history.
What happens next with these platforms remains to be seen. The legal battles will continue, and regulators will keep watching. But incidents like this Super Bowl stunt don’t help the case for broader acceptance of crypto prediction markets. They just give critics more ammunition.
