Forecasting service raises alarm over data from Paris airport used to settle Polymarket wagers on temperature
French police are investigating alleged tampering with national weather forecasting service equipment after a series of unusual temperature readings coincided with suspicious winning bets made on Polymarket.
Data from a Météo-France weather station at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport was used to settle bets between online gamblers on what the temperature would be in Paris for March and the first weeks of April.
On a few of the days, there was more than $500,000 (£371,000) in play on these bets. Several traders appear to have made significant profits – three separate wallets made more than $280,000 by betting that the temperature in Paris would reach 19C on 15 April – with the reading unexpectedly jumping by 5C that evening.
The timing of some of these bets has prompted widespread speculation that enterprising gamblers had tampered with the station. At least one wager appears to have been laid just before a temperature spike, resulting in a $21,000 profit for an anonymous user who also has money on the weather in Seoul and Toronto.
