The French “whale” who bet millions on a Trump win raked in about $85 million in profits – more than $50 million more than previously reported, according to a report.
The anonymous bettor, who goes by Théo, was previously believed to operate four separate accounts on Polymarket, the online betting platform that sold Donald Trump and Kamala Harris contracts ahead of the presidential election. Americans are not permitted to trade on Polymarket, though the platform is planning to return to the US.
But the trader created an additional seven accounts in October after news outlets started to pick up his outsize bets, according to Chainalysis research reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Théo placed more than $70 million on bets that Trump would win the Electoral College and the popular vote across his 11 accounts, all of which had unassuming names like PrincessCaro, Jenzigo and RepTrump, according to the Journal.
The mysterious French trader told the Journal he downplayed the size of his bets “for reasons of personal safety and to limit the disruption in my personal life, should my identity be disclosed some day.”
He said he was the only individual acting on the accounts and had funded the bets on his own.
“I’m the only one. I am wealthy enough and was confident in my own analysis,” Théo told the Journal.
He said he was a French citizen who had extensive trading experience and had previously lived in the US. Polymarket previously backed these claims in a statement on their site.
Théo declined to share his identity with the Journal, who confirmed he was the trader in question by having him place a small bet on the site.
The trader said he started placing hefty bets on Trump over the summer after he looked at polling data and concluded the Republican candidate was the likely winner. But the polls showed Trump and Harris locked in a tight race.
Meanwhile, Polymarket’s website on the morning before Election Day said Trump had a 58.6% chance of winning the presidency while Harris’ odds stood at 41.4%. The site’s bets were a more accurate prediction than the most recent polls.
“On Polymarket it looked like a done deal, and if you were just watching TV, you would think it’s neck and neck,” Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan said.
The French trader said his bets were simply about making money and he denied claims that he was trying to influence the election outcome.
“I have nothing more to add,” Théo told the Journal in his last email on Monday. “To be frank, I’m a bit tired of the whole thing – I’d like to fade back into my normal daily life.”
Polymarket’s election betting was a smash hit this year, with gamblers placing more than $3.7 billion on bets.
After the election spurred online betting, France’s gambling regulator, Autorité Nationale des Jeux, announced it was investigating whether Polymarket complies with the country’s laws.
“We are aware of this site and are currently examining its operation and compliance with French gambling legislation,” a spokesperson for the regulator told Bloomberg. The Autorité Nationale des Jeux did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New gambling markets are required to receive advanced approval from the regulator.
Polymarket did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
