LeBron’s $15m Polymarket deal faces backlash over rape bet
Advocates petitioned LeBron James & other paid endorsers to denounce the market before it vanished.
The hit
Polymarket took down a market betting on felony charges against the Cornell 7 rape case suspects after the New York Post contacted the company for comment, according to the Post. Odds of charges stood at roughly 28% before the bet was removed, with $451,633 in trading volume.
Why it matters
The backlash puts Polymarket’s celebrity marketing machine under scrutiny. Advocates argue letting people profit from a criminal case’s outcome creates incentives for those close to it to interfere, though no evidence of that has emerged in the Cornell case. Polymarket told Front Office Sports such markets offer ‘objective, data-driven insight’ into legal cases. The episode raises the question of what case types a prediction market should list at all.
The record
| Market odds before removal | 28% chance of felony charges (Polymarket traders) |
|---|---|
| Trading volume on the market | $451,633 (Polymarket) |
| LeBron James’s annual Polymarket deal | $15m a year (Front Office Sports) |
| Lawsuit filed | 16 September, Manhattan Supreme Court, by Jane Doe against Cornell, fraternity & sorority groups, seven men |
| Alleged assault date | 19-20 October 2024, Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house |
| Criminal case status | Charges initially declined in 2024; Tompkins County DA has since reopened the investigation |
What happens next
Watch whether James, Eli Manning, Derek Jeter & other named endorsers respond publicly & whether Polymarket relists similar case-outcome markets elsewhere.
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