Betting platform Polymarket started taking bets on Luigi Mangione’s future after the 26-year-old was charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The bets started appearing on the website on Monday shortly after Mangione was arrested in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on gun charges, according to Forbes.
The betting platform surged in popularity during the 2024 presidential election, when gamblers spent more than $3.3 billion guessing the results.
So far, users have wagered thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies speculating over Mangione’s alleged motive and outcome of the case.
A bet with one of the highest trading volumes, $125,000, is on whether Mangione was “motivated by denied [health insurance] claims.” Polymarket’s betting odds give it a 24 percent chance of being true.
Another bet trading at a volume of $65,000 is on whether “Luigi Mangione used [a] 3D printed gun,” which is given a 97 percent chance of being true.
Users are also betting on whether Mangione will plead guilty. The bet has a volume of $100,000 and the odds of him entering the plea are 26 percent, according to Polymarket.
Other bets take a punt on whether or not Mangione “is gay,” if he will post again on X, if he allegedly acted alone, whether he will fire his lawyer, and when he could be extradited to New York to face the murder charge.
Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she expects an indictment against Mangione to be issued “any day now,” adding that a warrant for his extradition will follow “the second that happens.”
Hochul said she trusts Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to put forth an “ironclad” indictment.
Mangione is currently being held in a Pennsylvania jail cell where he faces gun charges.
Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Thursday, the governor said: “I trust the DA here in Manhattan to put forward an indictment that is going to be ironclad. And that’s why there’s been a little time. People say, ‘why hasn’t something happened already?’ You want to get this right. You don’t want to have anybody, a defense attorney, be able to attack what you’ve done.”
She continued: “We expect that to be issued any day now. And it’s the second that happens, I’m issuing a warrant for extradition. I’ve already told the governor of Pennsylvania in multiple conversations, Josh Shapiro, and he’s working with me on this.”
