--- title: "Crypto Platforms Like Polymarket Now Taking Bets on Los Angeles Fire Devastation" description: "Users on the prediction market Polymarket are gleefully betting on the devastation caused by the Los Angeles Palisades wildfire." date: "2025-01-08" modified: "2025-01-08" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/crypto-platforms-polymarket-bets-fire" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "crypto" - "polymarket" - "prediction market" - "the digest" --- # Crypto Platforms Like Polymarket Now Taking Bets on Los Angeles Fire Devastation ![Users on the prediction market Polymarket are gleefully betting on the devastation caused by the Los Angeles Palisades wildfire.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Fire Sale As Los Angeles burns, users of the crypto-based platform Polymarket are gleefully placing bets on the [devastation caused by the raging wildfire](), which has already destroyed more than one thousand homes and killed at least two people. As of writing, there are at least nine running bets on the prediction market platform on the Palisades fire (though only three have significant amounts of money on the line). "Will the Palisades fire be contained Friday?" reads one outcome prediction, with over $40,000 worth of bets placed. The odds, as it stands, are "NO," with a dismal 2 percent chance. By contrast, a recent [wager on whether the fire will burn 10,000 acres by Friday]() sits at a 100 hundred percent chance, as the damage [extended to nearly 12,000 acres]() today. Somewhere, someone's crypto wallet just got a little fatter. https://twitter.com/Polymarket/status/1877043052436488609 ## Anything and Everything Polymarket has emerged as one of the world's leading prediction markets, a type of platform where users can bet on all sorts of outcomes, including the extremely trivial. Want to make a buck on how many times Elon Musk will tweet in a week, or if Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce [will get engaged before April]()? You can do that. There's also plenty of old fashioned sports betting on the market: over $2 billion has been wagered on [predicting this season's winners]() of the Super Bowl, the NBA, and the Premier League combined. That said, betting on Polymarket is technically illegal in the US — not that it's stopping many would-be bettors, who can easily sidestep the law with VPNs and their blockchain currencies — underscoring the both ethically and legally dubious nature of the operation. All the more striking is the sheer number of outcomes on serious current events, including politics. In fact, Polymarket made a name for itself during the last election cycle, when the site's hivemind [correctly predicted]() that Donald Trump would win the presidency, when many traditional polls favored Kamala Harris. ## Wicked Game Betting with your crypto wallet on an unfolding catastrophe, however, is a new hi-tech low — though perhaps merely the latest testament to the overwhelming ubiquity of gambling today. On social media, the reaction has been one of shock, outrage, and [mockery](). "The gamblification of everything is Evil in \[the\] fullest sense of the word," [tweeted]() writer Tyler Austin Harper. "Capital-E Evil." "Polymarket should be shut down for this," [echoed]() tech reporter Thomas Maxwell. The most damning detail is that it appears that the site's operators don't have any scruples about these kinds of bets — as it's been eagerly highlighting some of them on its social media pages. **More on crypto:** *[Hawk Tuah Girl Pledges Full Cooperation With Lawsuit Against Her Disastrous Memecoin]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()