Donald Trump Jr. has joined the advisory board of Polymarket, a prediction market platform, following a strategic investment from 1789 Capital, a fund aligned with promoting “American exceptionalism.” Trump Jr. became a member of the fund.
While financial details of the investment were not disclosed, Axios reported it to be in the “double-digit millions of dollars.”
In a statement released on Tuesday, Trump Jr. praised Polymarket, saying, “It bypasses media bias and expert narratives, allowing people to wager on outcomes they genuinely believe will occur.”
Election Betting, Regulation, and Polymarket’s Next Steps
During the 2024 US presidential election, Polymarket processed over $3.6 billion in bets, with approximately $2.7 billion wagered on the Trump–Harris contest alone. This massive betting volume sparked concerns among several US lawmakers.
In August 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, and others sent a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) urging a ban on election betting. They argued that allowing large bets alongside campaign contributions or insider knowledge could undermine public confidence in elections.
Similar concerns have emerged in sports. The National Football League (NFL) recently cautioned that prediction markets like Polymarket threaten game integrity, citing the lack of regulatory oversight and monitoring systems found in licensed sportsbooks, which could expose sports to manipulation.
Despite these criticisms, Polymarket reportedly secured a $200 million funding round on July 21, valuing the platform at $1 billion. In August, the company released a US-specific rulebook and launched digital advertisements in the US to signal its re-entry into the market.
