Someone allegedly used a hairdryer to rig Polymarket weather bets

ccdrnsf about 4 hours ago 53 commentsRead Article on engadget.com

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Discussion (53 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

hilariously•about 3 hours ago

"It sucks that someone potentially tricked a temperature sensor with a hairdryer to scam actual gamblers out of potential winnings" really missed a chance to say it blows.

moi2388•about 3 hours ago

That’s rather dry humour for such a hairy situation

lelandfe•about 2 hours ago

It went over my head, but I think they’re full of hot air anyway.

nkrisc•about 3 hours ago

Gambling addicts will really gamble on anything, won’t they? It’s a bit strange to see degenerate gambling dressed up as “predictions”.

gwerbin•about 3 hours ago

This looks less like gambling addiction and more like a scam executed for profit.

SirFatty•about 2 hours ago

And who fueled the profits? Gamblers?

wongarsu•about 2 hours ago

This instance is what you could call a scam, maybe even fraud. But in the absence of manipulation or insider knowledge predicting the weather is pretty close to gambling. As is "does bitcoin go up or down in the next five minutes" or "how many tweets will Elon Musk post in the next couple days" (all real bets on Polymarket)

chneu•about 3 hours ago

Yes, gambling. That's literally what gambling is, a scam.

qup•about 3 hours ago

Gambling takes many forms.

If you and I flip a coin for $100, there's no scam.

alansaber•about 2 hours ago

We rename everything to make it cooler to sell. Probably been a thing since the times of the sea people.

xg15•about 1 hour ago

I think what's also telling is Polymarket's non-reaction to this. If there are obvious concerns that the outcome was manipulated, I'd expect them to invalidate the bet - otherwise they're effectively incentivising manipulation.

arealaccount•23 minutes ago

If anything this was great free advertising for their platform

solumos•about 1 hour ago

Polymarket is simply an exchange for these sorts of “contracts” and the results are verified by a separate entity (it’s a DAO, which of course can be manipulated, and was the subject of controversy due to some Venezuela invasion-related “market” resolutions)

mint5•about 1 hour ago

No no no, the outcome revealed new information as the market intends! That info is that people had discounted the rare weather event “a 10% chance of localized hairdryers” on the day in question. The bettor predicted this better than everyone else, making their info public by placing a bet!!! /s

staplung•25 minutes ago

They said that Cobra would never acquire the pieces of the Weather Dominator. Now we’re doomed!

mdrzn•about 3 hours ago

Already discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47878208

cnj•about 3 hours ago

It never occurred to me that Goodhart's law could be applied to betting, but here we are :)

boringg•about 3 hours ago

Is there a bet available to determine if the weather forecasted was impacted by a hair dryer?

cosmojg•about 3 hours ago

That's not a bad idea. It actually sounds like it could be a very useful hedge/insurance play.

wongarsu•about 2 hours ago

That'd be easier to game than "will somebody run onto the field in the next $sports game". Just bet yes and bring a hair dryer. Make sure somebody posts evidence to X so you can cash out

swader999•about 2 hours ago

Finally some hacking news!

declan_roberts•about 3 hours ago

I can't believe there's no honor among the gamblers!

HeavyStorm•about 1 hour ago

If that happened, has a crime been committed? I don't think so. Well, maybe tampering with the thermometer might be a crime, but, on the gambling angle, I would say it's not.

AureliusMA•16 minutes ago

The betting contract depended on the Oracle's data for resolution. The Oracle's data was altered. The betting contract wasn't altered, however the social contract was.

JohnMakin•about 1 hour ago

If you cheat a casino, you go to jail.

boothby•about 1 hour ago

I imagine it'd be harder to find somebody using an infrared laser

greatgib•28 minutes ago

Just to be clear, my understanding of news here is France is that there is an investigation for someone having possibly rigged the weather sensor but there was nothing release about how this could have been done.

The hair dryer thing is a joke, even if it is still a possibility, but just to say, it could be a cover, it could be a hot air gun, it could be a hack, it could be just luck, ...

Take care because there are ai generated videos of a guy with a hair dryer doing that, but these are fake!

Arn_Thor•about 2 hours ago

Maybe it's bad to let people bet on anything, huh

damnitbuilds•about 1 hour ago

Is that better or worse than invading Venezuela to rig a Polymarket bet ?

ghstinda•about 2 hours ago

hilarious title, engadget is still quality after all these years

beepbooptheory•about 3 hours ago

Dupe from a little bit ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47878208

ChrisArchitect•about 2 hours ago

2 weeks old news OP

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47869664

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47878208

zobzu•about 2 hours ago

climate change via hair drier ;D

avazhi•about 3 hours ago

A fool and his money etc etc.

You love to see it.

mac3n•41 minutes ago

is this what the cryptobros are doing now?

Uptrenda•about 2 hours ago

lulz futures paying off as usual