Zohran Mamdani’s victory over Andrew Cuomo to become New York’s 111th mayor drew a record turnout and $424 million in Polymarket betting volume, leaving one trader with heavy losses after betting against him.
A player by the handle ‘fuxfux007’ is down $969,169 after playing against Mamdani. The trader appears to be new to Polymarket, according to Polymarket Analytics, with only two bets: one against Mamdani worth $973,757 and one for him worth $42,973.
On the other hand, the biggest winner of the night was a trader known as ‘debased’ who bet $188,487 on Mamdani.
In the end, Polymarket correctly predicted the outcome of the election, in line with the polls. Still, it was not without controversy: billionaire Bill Ackman claimed that the prediction markets were rigged with malicious orders to make it look like Mamdami’s chances were higher than expected.
These claims echo last year’s US election debate, where mainstream businesses accused Polymarket of manipulation after a French trader’s multi-million dollar bets inflated Donald Trump’s odds.
At the time, experts told CoinDesk that attempts to rig prices were short-lived and mostly self-correcting, as arbitrage and liquidity from professional firms quickly weed out bad prices.
Traders took the same view on the eve of the New York election, with some pointing out that a bet on Mamdani in the days before the polls opened was effectively a guaranteed bond with 5% interest.
