Trump Says He Dislikes Prediction Markets. His Family Invests in Them.

When a U.S. soldier was indicted on Thursday on charges of using classified information to place prediction market bets, it seemed to confirm President Trump’s lament just hours before that “the whole world unfortunately has become somewhat of a casino.” “I was never much in favor of it,” Mr. Trump said from the Oval Office, when asked about concerns that federal employees might be leveraging insider information on the prediction markets. “I don’t like it conceptually. It is what it is. I’m not happy with any of that stuff.” Yet Mr. Trump and his family stand to profit from the very same industry. The president’s publicly traded media company unveiled its own prediction market product last year. And the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has ties to two of the industry’s top firms, including Polymarket, the platform that prosecutors say was used by the soldier for well-timed bets. The result, ethics experts say, is a jarring juxtaposition between Mr. Trump’s public comments and his family’s private business. While the president’s criticism of the prediction markets raised the prospect of new regulation, the reality is that little is likely to change. Last year, Mr. Trump’s administration backed away from enforcement efforts against Polymarket, and it is unclear whether regulators will adopt any new oversight measures. “Presidential statements used to be the gold standard, but this is not true for President Trump,” Jeffrey A. Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, said. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.