Polymarket probes suspicious trades around Israel election, Bloomberg News reports

 Prediction market operator Polymarket is investigating a string of well-timed and profitable trades on Israel's election this week, according to a Bloomberg News report on Thursday.

Shortly before polls closed on Tuesday, hundreds of newly created accounts placed bets on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retaining his position and his Likud party winning the most seats, according to the report.

The report said those trades quickly became profitable- and together some of the accounts already cashed out over $100,000 - after some exit polls showed that Netanyahu’s party had won more seats than early reports suggested.

Many wallets have significant gains that have not yet been realized, the report said.

Prediction markets face growing scrutiny over potential insider trading, with platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi reporting a surge in suspicious activity amid a sharp increase in trading volumes. Reuters reported in May that Polymarket had seen a significant uptick in trades flagged as suspicious this year.

Polymarket investigates suspicious betting activity linked to Israeli election

Polymarket is reviewing dozens of newly created wallets that traded on the election, its internal investigative team told Bloomberg.

Data analysis firms Polysights and Bubblemaps have also flagged the activity as suspicious and are investigating, the report said.

The findings are not conclusive, and it can be difficult to distinguish potential insider trading from original research or lucky bets, Bloomberg reported.

Representatives for Polymarket and Polysights did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Bubblemaps said its analysis shared with Bloomberg was recent and that it had no further updates.