War Bets Expand on Prediction Markets as DC Backlash Mounts (1)

Polymarket opened more than a dozen new contracts tied to the Iran conflict since Saturday, including bets on regime change and Houthi strikes on Israel, as geopolitical wagers hit a record.

The burst of new markets came even as Polymarket faces blowback from lawmakers, regulators and customers concerned about the ethics of betting on matters of life and death and the laws regarding insider trading.

Prediction platforms, which offer financial contracts tied to the outcome of global events, hosted hundreds of millions of dollars of trading on when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be out as Iran’s leader. Polymarket and its ...