Polymarket took over a bar near the White House, for a promotional event showcasing the prediction market’s vision of betting on current events as a new form of entertainment.
The Situation Room, as Polymarket is calling it, will be open for a single weekend, with rows of TVs on the walls and above the bar, showing newscasts and financial tickers. A human-sized globe covered in screens displayed the odds from Polymarket’s exchange, where users bet on the outcomes of elections, sports and military conflict.
“We want to be a part of the conversation in DC, and where better to have a conversation than in a bar,” the company’s chief legal officer, Neil Kumar, said at an event for reporters outside the venue.
The event is the company’s latest promotion focused more on grabbing attention than winning business. In February, Polymarket opened a pop-up grocery store in Manhattan where it gave away free food for four days before packing up.
Polymarket and its rivals have come under growing scrutiny in recent weeks from lawmakers and regulators, who have expressed concern about the vulnerability of prediction markets to insider trading and manipulation.
Democrats in Congress have introduced several pieces of legislation looking to rein in the nascent industry, and several states have taken the exchanges to court, accusing them of violating state gambling laws.
Polymarket, in particular, has faced questions about its decision to offer wagers on military conflict. One contract tied to missile attacks on Israel led to threats against a reporter covering the attacks.
US prediction markets are overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has generally prohibited exchanges from listing financial contracts related to war. Polymarket’s main exchange operates offshore and does not answer to US regulators.
Kumar acknowledged on Friday that most US customers who visit the company’s bar won’t be able to place bets on Polymarket’s app, which is only operating in beta mode in the US.
“I think you’re going to start to see, in the near future, a Polymarket in the US that looks like the Polymarket platform that most people know,” he said.
The event was held at Proper 21 K, an upscale bar and restaurant just a few blocks from both the White House and CFTC headquarters. Polymarket transformed the venue with the company’s blue branding after announcing the event a few days ago in a post that promised the “world’s first bar dedicated to monitoring the situation.”
The company said that the bar would only be open by invitation on Friday night, followed by two nights for the broader public, with the same menu as the existing bar.
