Multiple bets tied to the ongoing fire disaster in Los Angeles have surfaced on cryptocurrency-based prediction platform Polymarket, raising ethical concerns about such money-making opportunities.
What Happened: More than 30,000 people had to evacuate the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles as a catastrophic wildfire raged, endangering life and property.
In response, as many as 8 separate betting contracts came up on Polymarket, a Polygon POL/USD-based forecasting market that allows users to use cryptocurrencies to predict the outcome of events and make money.
One notable betting question on the platform was, “Will the Palisades fire be contained by Friday?” on which about $87,000 has already been wagered. Bettors saw just a 2% possibility of this happening.
Another bet was titled, “Will Palisades wildfire spread to Santa Monica by Sunday?” About 66% odds were in favor as of this writing.
These gambles sparked strong reactions from the public. Jacob R. Adkins, an X user, asked, “It says a lot about a society when we've resorted to entertaining ourselves by betting on how much worse a natural disaster could get.”
Another user, going by the pseudonym corp_liberation, called the betting “immoral.”
“Why do you even have such a line?? These are people’s homes and lives. This is NOT a game!”
See Also: US Government Silk Road Bitcoin Holdings Drop To 0 Amid Report DOJ Approved To Sell $6.5 Billion Worth Of Crypto
Polymarket has attached a disclaimer for all its wildfire-related bets, stating that the idea was to provide factual, real-time news to those impacted by the calamity.
Note that Polymarket is not available to U.S. residents due to regulatory hurdles. The federally regulated prediction platform Kalshi didn’t have any such bets as yet.
Why It Matters: This isn’t the first time Polymarket has been in the spotlight for its betting markets on sensitive issues.
Last year, the platform faced criticism for facilitating bets on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Ethereum ETH/USD co-founder Vitalik Buterin defended Polymarket, highlighting its role in providing accurate information and preventing misinformation.
It’s worth noting that Buterin has skin in the game, having participated in Polymarket’s $70 million funding round in May of last year.
Read Next:
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Representative Image. Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia
© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
