The Politician Who Bet Against Himself
foul play: criminal activity that may be the hidden cause of a death, fire, or other suspicious event
In January 2025, wildfires were destroying whole neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Thousands of families lost their homes. While the city burned, on a website called Polymarket, strangers bet on when the fires would be stopped. The total amount gambled passed 1.2 million dollars.
The fires ended, but the betting did not. This summer, a new website called Wyldfyre opened. It offers bets on only one thing: what California’s seasonal fires will do next.
Now a group of US senators has sent the government a warning about how dangerous this is. Betting on someone’s misfortune is distasteful, but the senators fear something worse. Gambling on fires could incentivize someone to start one. The next suspicious fire may have investigators asking whether it was foul play.
It’s not just fires. Websites like Polymarket allow bets on almost anything, so the danger of insider trading is very real. George Santos is a former congressman who went to prison for fraud before Donald Trump released him early, in October of 2025. Before the president’s big yearly speech, Santos talked often online about his plan to attend. Then he secretly bet money that he would not attend. He never arrived, and he won more than 17,000 dollars. In July, Santos agreed to pay 35,000 dollars and accepted a three-year betting ban, although he says he did nothing wrong.
He is not the only one. An army soldier is accused of earning over 400,000 dollars by betting on a secret military operation. Congress is now investigating whether powerful officials at the highest levels are using government secrets to win bets.
Sample sentences
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