Trump says the world's become a 'casino' after US soldier accused of betting on Maduro raid
President Donald Trump, responding to the arrest of an American soldier for allegedly betting on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, said the world "has become somewhat of a casino."
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday he was unaware of the arrest of Gannon Ken Van Dyke, which was first reported by ABC News, but that he'd "look into it."
Federal investigators said Van Dyke bet more than $33,000 on the prediction market Polymarket just days before President Trump announced Maduro's capture by U.S. special forces in early January. In total, Van Dyke's series of bets won more than $409,000, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
Trump was asked on Thursday if he was concerned about online prediction markets, through which bets are regularly placed on geopolitical events, such as the war in Iran, and the potential for insider trading.
"Well, you know, the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino," Trump responded. "And you look at what's going on all over the world, in Europe and every place, they're doing these betting things. I was never much in favor of it. I don't like it conceptually, but it is what it is."
"No, I think that I'm not happy with any of that stuff," the president continued. "But they have all these different sites. They have predictive markets. It's a crazy world. It's a much different world than it was."
One of Trump's namesake companies, Trump Media and Technology Group, announced last year that it would launch a prediction betting marketplace called Truth Predict. The White House has said all of President Trump's assets, including his majority stake in Trump Media and Technology Group, are being held in a trust controlled by his sons.
Polymarket has cultivated close ties to the Trump family, announcing last August that the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., would join its advisory board. Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, also invested in Polymarket.
ABC News on Friday reached out to the White House for comment on Truth Predict and Trump Jr.'s involvement in Polymarket.
Polymarket on Thursday said they referred Van Dyke's suspicious trades to the Justice Department and cooperated with its investigation. "Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is proof the system works," their statement said.
Van Dyke, who was involved in Maduro's capture, was charged with unlawful use of confidential information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud and wire fraud.
He appeared in court on Friday and was expected to be released on $250,000 bond. He is set to make another court appearance on April 28 in Manhattan federal court, where the complaint was filed.
On Thursday, Trump appeared to compare Van Dyke's arrest to the betting scandal baseball great Pete Rose faced.
"That's like Pete Rose betting on his own team," Trump said in the Oval Office.
Rose, who died in 2024, was a Cincinnati Reds star and later the team's manager who received a lifetime ban from the sport after betting on games, including Reds games.
"Pete Rose they kept him out of the hall of fame because he bet on his own team," Trump said on Thursday. "Now, if he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team."
There are already two Republicans who are calling for a pardon for Van Dyke.
"I don't agree with what he did and he should be required to disgorge all the profits however, unless the DOJ plans on doing Congress next, this is not justice," Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wrote on X.
ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman, Peter Charalambous and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
