How a mystery gambler scored big on Maduro’s ouster

Just hours before U.S. aircraft surged into Caracas as part of an operation to capture Nicolás Maduro, an anonymous person placed a final online bet that the Venezuelan president would soon be ousted. 

The mystery gambler netted more than $400,000 on that long-shot bet – raising questions about whether they had inside knowledge of the operation. 

The payout has drawn attention to the growing world of prediction markets, online bets on real-world scenarios that some critics warn could have unintended negative effects. Today, Martine Powers talks with banking reporter Andrew Ackerman about the loosely regulated prediction market industry and what we know about the mystery gambler who won big on the Maduro ouster.

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick with help from Dennis Funk and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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