During the Super Bowl, Logan Paul appeared to place a $1 million bet on the New England Patriots via Polymarket, a crypto prediction market platform. Polymarket shared a clip of Paul “checking Polymarket at the Big Game,” but observers quickly noticed that the YouTube star’s account had no funds. Summary Paul sparks crypto betting criticism: “Yet another Logan Paul scam.” Polymarket and rival Kalshi face U.S. legal challenges over prediction markets. “DeFi_Dad” and BetHog CEO Nigel Eccles argue that Kalshi’s ads target young adults with messages encouraging risky gambling. As a result, the supposed bet was never actually possible. As Protos reports, crypto sleuth ZachXBT reviewed the top holders of the market and confirmed that none matched Logan’s purported wager. He called the stunt “yet another Logan Paul scam,” likely referencing Paul’s previous CryptoZoo project, which lost investors tens of thousands of dollars and resulted in multiple ongoing lawsuits. Speculation also arose about an undisclosed relationship between Paul and Polymarket, with ZachXBT noting that the WWE talent had livestreamed attempts to promote the platform, which he described as “inorganic.” Polymarket’s prediction markets, along with rival platform Kalshi, face legal scrutiny in U.S. courts. Polymarket recently filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts to prevent the state from shutting down its sports betting markets, arguing that federal law and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are the only authorities authorized to regulate such contracts. Meanwhile, Kalshi has faced criticism online for marketing prediction markets as an easy way to make money. Crypto commentator “DeFi_Dad” echoed investor Warren Buffett and called the ads “rat poison squared,” warning that they mislead users into treating gambling as investing. Nigel Eccles, CEO of crypto casino BetHog, echoed these concerns, saying Kalshi’s ads target young adults with messages encouraging risky gambling, raising ethical concerns about underage and problem gambling. It is clear to me that @kalshi is going down the same path as Juul, and if they don’t pull back it is going to have the same conclusion.For those that don’t remember, Juul was one of a number of the main vaping brands in the 2010s. It took a product that had a social good… pic.twitter.com/oH5qqjtU7I— Nigel Eccles (@nigeleccles) February 8, 2026 In the end, Paul avoided financial loss, as Seattle defeated the Patriots 29–13, but the incident underscores ongoing scrutiny around celebrity promotions of crypto prediction markets, the legality of these platforms, and the ethics of marketing gambling-like products to the public.
