Prediction market platform Polymarket has raised approximately $1 billion in a new funding round, with $300 million led by 1789 Capital — an investment fund in which Donald Trump Jr. is a partner — according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The raise marks one of the largest single rounds in the prediction market space and deepens the financial ties between the Trump family and the fast-growing prediction industry. 1789 Capital previously invested $200 million in Polymarket, and the fund has also backed other controversial tech ventures, including the Enhanced Games, a so-called "steroid Olympics" founded by veterans of various tech companies.
The deal arrives amid intensifying regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets. At least 20 states are engaged in litigation against prediction sites over sports wagers, while the federal government has frequently sought to defend the industry from state regulation. The Trump administration has argued that the sole regulator should be the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not state governments — and the CFTC has sued at least nine states over their attempts to regulate the industry.
A coalition of 44 state attorneys general recently signed a letter arguing the CFTC does not have the authority to regulate sports-related wagers on prediction sites. Donald Trump Jr. has also appeared at events involving conservative state attorneys general, where he characterized prediction sites as tools "overseen by federal officials, not state attorneys general" and described the industry as already having "robust oversight."
Polymarket, which rose to global prominence during the 2024 U.S. presidential election for its real-time election odds, has expanded aggressively into sports wagering in the months since. The company's growing valuation reflects investor confidence that prediction markets will become a mainstream financial product — even as the legal and political landscape around them remains deeply unsettled.
