Insider trading fears have been raised after bettors appeared to make suspiciously accurate wagers on surprise guest appearances during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Activity surged on Polymarket, an online platform that lets users trade on real-world outcomes, as Super Bowl Sunday approached.
Alongside bets on the game itself, users were able to wager on everything from TV viewership to which stars might join Bad Bunny onstage.
Eyebrows were raised when online sleuths spotted one anonymous account that correctly predicted nearly every outcome tied to the halftime show.
The account – created just one day before the Super Bowl – placed close to $70,000 in wagers, all focused exclusively on halftime-show markets, and walked away with roughly $17,000 in profit, a return of more than 24 percent.
This account’s suspicious activity was brought to light by a post on X that was uploaded in the early hours of Super Bowl Sunday.
‘A potential Super Bowl halftime show insider has been spotted. This wallet was created yesterday and is exclusivly[sic] trading Super Bowl halftime show markets,’ the post read.
The X post laid out the mystery account’s bets, including more than $19,000 on Lady Gaga making a surprise appearance during Bad Bunny’s show.
Anger has erupted after bettors suspiciously won huge amounts of money by predicting Lady Gaga’s appearance during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance
Polymarket, a public online prediction market where people can trade on the outcomes of real-world events, was buzzing with activity this Super Bowl Sunday
The bettor also bet nearly $14,000 on Ricky Martin appearing, along with another $36,000 on various stars not taking the stage during the Super Bowl halftime show – including over $10,000 on Travis Scott not performing.
The only losing bet was $446.41 on Rauw Alejandro failing to appear.
No guest appearances were officially confirmed or denied ahead of the halftime show.
‘I hate these stupid websites,’ one Reddit user wrote.
‘It’s just a money laundering scheme and a way for the wealthy to milk more money out of the rest of us.’
After Bad Bunny’s performance and the final results were confirmed, the bettor walked away with nearly $17,000 in profit, a return of more than 24 percent.
The episode has reignited criticism of prediction markets, which operate outside traditional gambling frameworks.
State gaming regulators do not license or oversee these platforms, and they do not receive tax revenue from them.
Users were able to place bets on not only the winner, but also the guests Bad Bunny would pull out during his halftime show or how many viewers the game would have
After Bad Bunny’s performance and the final results were confirmed, the Polymarket bettor walked away with nearly $17,000 in profit, a return of more than 24 percent
Shayne Coplan, the founder and CEO of Polymarket
Prediction markets have also faced criticism over weak consumer protections, including fears of insider trading by government officials or industry insiders in politics, sports, finance, and entertainment.
Last week, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said his company banned insider trading, adopting rules similar to those used in the stock market.
This isn’t the first time Polymarket has faced insider trading claims.
In January, an anonymous user turned a roughly $32,000 bet into over $400,000 by predicting Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro would be captured – placing most of the trades just hours before President Trump announced a surprise US operation that removed him from power.