Offshore Political Betting Site Polymarket Gets a Huge Investor Backing With Peter Thiel

One of the world's richest men and most successful investors, Peter Thiel, has announced he has raised approximately $70 million in funding for Polymarket, one of the major cryptocurrency startups offering “event contracts” for users to bet on things like political elections.  Cryptogambling sites have exploded in popularity in recent years, however, none of the U.S. state-regulated sites like FanDuel and DraftKings offer bitcoin or similar funding options.

Polymarket operates offshore though the company does not make it clear which online gambling jurisdiction licenses the platform.  Similar sites like BetOnline also operate offshore but are licensed in Panama and Antigua and endorsed by Gambling911.com.

Betting on elections is not yet regulated in the U.S. under federal or state law, but many companies have lobbied the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in recent years to ease these restrictions.  Online gambling is currently legalized at the state level, mostly sports betting and horse racing with a handful of states allowing internet casinos and poker.

In January 2022, the platform was fined US$1.4 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, alongside receiving a cease and desist order, following regulation violations including not registering as a Swap Execution Facility.[

In May 2022, Polymarket appointed J. Christopher Giancarlo, a former Commissioner of the CFTC, as chairman of its advisory board.

Gamblers have already staked over $125 million though BetOnline and PredictIt have garnered much of the press leading up to the 2024 general election in the U.S.  BetOnline was headlined at the top of the Drudge Report with its betting over or under on former president Donald Trump's weight when he was booked into the Fulton County Jail.  BetOnline also had one of its biggest days ever taking bets on this year's Joe Biden State of the Union address. 

Founders Fund, the venture capital firm founded by Thiel that also invested in SpaceX and Facebook, was the lead investor, Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan told CoinDesk.

Forbes attempted to reach out for comment but Polymarket has yet to respond.

Latest GOP VP Odds

Republican VP Nominee                                             

Doug Burgum               4/1                  

J.D. Vance                     9/2                  

Tim Scott                      9/2                  

Marco Rubio                 6/1                  

Tulsi Gabbard               8/1                  

Any Other                     9/1                  

Elise Stefanik                14/1                

Ben Carson                   15/1                

Lee Zeldin                     25/1                

S. Huckabee Sanders     30/1                

Mike Pompeo               33/1                

Mike Flynn Sr.               35/1                

Robert F Kennedy Jr.     35/1                

Vivek Ramaswamy        35/1                

Nikki Haley                   40/1                

Byron Donalds              50/1                

Ron DeSantis                50/1                

Tucker Carlson              50/1                

Kristi Noem                   65/1                                                 

2024 Presidential Election                                            

Donald Trump Sr.          10/13               (-130)

Joe Biden                      1/1                  

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.    22/1                

Michelle Obama            25/1                

Gavin Newsom              45/1                

Kamala Harris               45/1                

Nikki Haley                   80/1                

Gretchen Whitmer        100/1              

Hillary Clinton               150/1              

Jamie Dimon                 250/1              

Mark Cuban                  250/1              

Liz Cheney                    500/1   

All Odds Courtesy of BetOnline

By  Gilbert Horowitz Gilbert is the esteemed reporter for Gambling911 covering all gamuts of the industry.  He has been with the site for the better part of a decade.  Gilbert works out of the Miami Beach bureau.