They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket—but None of It Was Real

W wsj.com ↗

▲ 371 points • 276 comments • by Vaslo • 2d ago • HN discussion ↗

Pangram verdict · v3.3

We believe that this document is fully human-written

0 %

AI likelihood · overall

Human

100% human-written 0% AI-generated

SEGMENTS · HUMAN 1 of 1

SEGMENTS · AI 0 of 1

WORD COUNT 93

PEAK AI % 0% · §1

Analyzed

Jun 23

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Segments scanned

1 windows

avg 93 words each

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100 / 0%

human / AI fraction

Verdict

Human

Pangram v3.3

Article text · 93 words · 1 segments analyzed

Human AI-generated

§1 Human · 0%

In his videos, George Makihara appears to have a lucrative side hustle making bets on Polymarket.In January, the college student posted a video that showed him winning $100,000 on a wager that President Trump would publicly say the word “McDonald’s” that month. The bet was one of 145 that Makihara appeared to place on Polymarket’s website between January and mid-May, based on his videos—bets adding up to almost $410,000. But none of those bets were real, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation.Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8