Hours before U.S. Army Delta Force operators captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on Jan. 3, an anonymous trader wagered more than $30,000 on the prediction site Polymarket that Maduro would be removed from office by Jan. 31.
The bettor reportedly walked away with more than $400,000 in winnings.
The wacky and wildly popular prediction market, which involves betting on almost anything in politics, business and entertainment, takes the prospects of "Wanna bet?" to a whole new level.
Dennis Kelleher, president of Better Markets, a nonprofit that advocates for regulating prediction markets, told USA TODAY the bet on Maduro's capture illustrates the dangerous territory the country has now entered.
Kelleher believes the bet on Maduro being caught had all the makings of insider trading, given how few people knew about the operation.
