Two Israelis on Monday became the first people charged with using classified information to earn money on the online betting site Polymarket.
Polymarket, an online gambling website that allows users to bet on virtually anything, has become best known for its prediction markets on major world events. Concerns about insider trading among officials have grown along with the market’s popularity, and on Thursday, the first known charges against people who used classified information to enrich themselves on Polymarket were unsealed.
The new title belongs to an Israel Defense Forces reservist and a civilian, both of whom used classified Israeli information to bet tens of thousands of dollars on when Israel would strike Iran. They were charged with committing serious security offenses, bribery, and obstruction of justice, the Israel Security Agency announced three days after the indictments.
One of the insiders was noticed by social media users over a month before he was caught. On Jan. 6, user Senzer noticed a Polymarket wallet by the name of ricosuave666 that had earned $152,000 across four successful bets on the Israel-Iran war — three guessing when it would begin and one guessing when it would end.
His most lucrative bet was made the week of the strike, betting nearly $34,000 that Israel would strike Iran by that Friday. When Israel launched its massive air campaign in the early hours of Friday, the user nearly quadrupled their sum, winning a profit of nearly $129,000.
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Rumors had been circling in the Israeli press for weeks regarding a security affair involving Polymarket. After an Israeli court partially lifted a gag order around the affair, releasing the core allegations and who was investigating, some relief was had, as the perpetrators weren’t high-ranking officials as originally feared.
The indictment also didn’t include charges that the perpetrators had an “intent to harm state security,” Ynet reported.