Polymarket has been targeting UK social media influencers to market its product across social media platform X.
A post shared last week by Ellis Platten – who runs the AwayDays YouTube channel which has 635,000 subscribers – shows a screenshot of an email he was sent by a supposed Polymarket partner.
Platten called out the marketing campaign, sarcastically captioning his post: “Good to see them targeting creators that are a natural fit.”
The email he received read: “Hi Ellis, I am reaching out because we are partnering with Polymarket on all partnerships across social media channels. They are interested in your X account for the upcoming World Cup. This would focus on quote tweets.”
While Platten did not reveal the specific person that sent him this email, it is far from some form of attention grab for engagements which many have become accustomed to on social media.
Polymarket’s social media push
Various social media influencers who distribute similar, football-related content to Platten have been spotted quote tweeting Polymarket posts directly, or other posts involving Polymarket.
It would hardly be correct to put 100% of the blame on these content creators for taking up the opportunity, as the vast majority of them make a sizable amount of their income through advertising and marketing deals.
However, it seems Platten was more switched on to the risks that a potential deal with Polymarket could cause. And for regulatory authorities, ignorance of rules is rarely an excuse.
Responding to his initial post, he later commented: “Didn’t realise how prevalent this actually was when I tweeted this.
“Basically, if you see any person or account with any sort of following sharing anything related to Polymarket, they’re being paid to advertise them.
“Highly shady, highly illegal if they’re not disclosing it.”
Is partnering with Polymarket playing with fire?
Many creators have been seen reacting to posts from the @PolymarketSport account on X. One of these creators is former FIFA esports player and streamer Kurt, who also distributes posts of his RainBet betslips.
Others, like popular UK creators Rory Jennings and Tom Garratt, were seen to have quote tweeted various PolymarketSport posts, but have since deleted them.
Some are now labelled as ‘paid partnerships’, but various other posts are not described anywhere as advertisements.
Under Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rules, influencer marketing needs to be “clearly and obviously distinguished from other content”.
Stake fell foul of this while operating in the UK, as, just under two years ago, its logo began to appear on several videos on various social media platforms.
Mainstream and verified accounts were using videos that featured the Stake watermark in the top corner, after the operator struck agreements with a plethora of content aggregators.
Stake eventually exited the UK in May 2025 after its logo appeared on a video featuring the highly-controversial adult film content creator Bonnie Blue.
While the proliferation of its logo has diminished, albeit not on every social media site, posts featuring it certainly garnered a huge amount of attention.
Operators may have been looking for ways to conduct marketing campaigns without it coming across as a blatant advert, and this is what may have led Polymarket down this route.
However, this was always going to be cottoned on to by eagle-eyed social media users, even without Platten bringing it to light.
Comments underneath influencers’ posts highlight this, with one replying to Kurt quote tweeting PolymarketSport simply asking: “@CommunityNotes Aren’t ads supposed to be disclosed?”
With grey market gambling and prediction market advertising massively prevalent across social media platforms currently, it is hard to see how regulators and social media sites will be able to completely abolish this.
Clarity on adverts being adverts is clearly needed – that goes without saying.
The UK’s Illegal Gambling Taskforce is said to be focusing on clamping down on marketing like this, but it is tough to gauge whether or not the relevant sites will be keen enough to eliminate illegal advertising from their platforms.
An ASA ruling not so long ago prohibited an advert from Flutter Entertainment as it featured a then-47-year-old Gary Neville who was judged as “likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s”.
All the while, Polymarket, which is not licensed in the UK, is able to use social media influencers from these shores to slyly promote its product.
The conversation also comes amid a wider conversation about social media use in the UK, with the government having just proposed a complete ban on under-16s using social media platforms, similar to what has been done in Australia.
SBC News has contacted the ASA for comment.
