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Following the recent U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, the prediction platform Polymarket refused to pay out bets predicting a Washington invasion of Venezuela, reports Financial Times.
Polymarket justified its position arguing that it will only pay those contracts if the US forces "begin a military offensive aimed at establishing control over any part of Venezuela", a definition that the platform argues was not met with the Maduro kidnapping operation, as it did not involve prolonged territorial control. It also added that, in order to pay the bettors, there must be "a consensus of credible sources".You may be interested in: http://EE.UU. intercepts a new sanctioned tanker in the Caribbean
The decision generated controversy because more than $10.5 million were wagered on contracts linked to that eventual invasion, according to the Financial Times. Users were betting that the hypothetical intervention would occur before January 31, at the end of March, or at the end of December. The news arrives after an anonymous 'trader' obtained nearly $410,000 in profits after betting on Maduro's imminent departure from power, hours before the U.S. began its aggression against the country. The Wall Street Journal reported that the temporal precision of the bets has fueled suspicions that the 'trader' may have had confidential information about an action carefully reserved by the White House.
