Betting website Polymarket is offering players the opportunity to place bets on what alleged shooting suspect Luigi Mangione, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, will do next.
Polymarket, a cryptocurrency trading platform, was hailed as “more accurate than polls” in the 2024 presidential election because it predicted a Donald Trump victory.
According to their website, the odds on the site are determined by users who place bets based on the available information, which they use to make a prediction about the outcome of a future event.
Now bettors have turned to the site to bet on what they think Mangione will do following his arrest at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
One of the bets, titled “Will Luigi Mangione plead guilty?”, has amassed trading volume of over $89,000 and shows a 28 percent chance that he will plead guilty on Wednesday evening.
Participants who spend 31 cents in USD Coin – a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged to the US dollar – per “yes” vote on his guilty plea will be rewarded with a 223 percent increase in returns if correct.
If you bet 74 cents on “no,” indicating you won’t plead guilty, you’ll get 35 percent back if you’re right.
Another option called “Luigi Mangione extradited to New York before 2025?” shows that 28 percent of users believe he will be.
Betting site Polymarket is offering gamblers the chance to bet their wages on what shooting suspect Luigi Mangione, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, will do next
Mangione is fighting extradition to New York, but officials hope to get him back with a so-called gubernatorial warrant
Players who spend 31 cents per yes vote to have him shipped before the end of the year could see a 233 percent return increase if the statement is correct, and those who vote no could see a return of 35, at the time of writing. achieve 13 percent.
Other bets include “Fact Check: Luigi Mangione Motivated by Denied Claims?” and “Was Luigi Mangione Paid?”
Some long-term bets are: “Will Luigi Mangione tweet again by Friday?” Only two percent of people say he will post on his newly verified X account.
Only one percent of users are betting that a mysterious YouTube channel with Mangione's name is real.
Mangione, 26, was accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4.
He was arrested in Pennsylvania on firearms charges and had an eventful day in court Tuesday fighting extradition to the Big Apple.
As Mangione works to extend his stay in the Keystone State, New York officials are hoping to get him back with a so-called gubernatorial order.
It is an arrest warrant signed by the governor of a state where a fugitive is fleeing after committing a crime. The Governor of that State shall act upon the official request of the Governor of the State in which the offense was committed.
In this case, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to seek a gubernatorial order from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, but the process could take more than a month.
On Wednesday, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said police had matched a gun found on Mangione to bullet casings found at the crime scene and his fingerprints to a water bottle and energy bar wrapper found nearby.
Other evidence includes handwritten documents found in his possession that portray his alleged crime as a legitimate response to what he saw as corporate greed, some media outlets have reported.
Mangione lashed out at himself as he was led into a courthouse on Tuesday, shouting, among other things, “…totally out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people!”
The former Ivy League student was arrested with a 3D-printed pistol and a black silencer, as well as a manifesto condemning the American healthcare system.
According to CNN, Mangione also had a spiral notebook in which he wrote a “to-do list” in the lead-up to the grizzly shooting.
In it, he allegedly considered using a bomb to kill Thompson – but decided against it because it “could kill innocent people” and decided a shooting would be more targeted.
He also reportedly mused that there could be nothing better than “killing the CEO at his own conference” while Thompson was due to reveal the financial gains the company had made that year.
Mangione, 26, was accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4
He was arrested Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on firearms charges
Authorities said Mangione's three-page manifesto was under investigation and described it as a “claim of responsibility.”
The document is a different piece of evidence than the notebook in which he flirted with the idea of bombing Midtown to kill the millionaire health care chief.
In the manifesto, Mangione allegedly wrote about UnitedHealthcare's grandiose size and the high profits it generates, and condemned health insurance companies more broadly for putting profits over care.
Details of his writing are set against the backdrop of the UPenn graduate's own experiences with the medical world as he struggled following a spinal injury. His extensive online presence also revealed that he had read several books on back pain.
“To save you a lengthy investigation, I state clearly that I have not worked with anyone. This was pretty trivial: some basic social engineering, basic CAD, [and] “A lot of patience,” he allegedly wrote in the manifesto, according to the Daily Beast.
He went on to say he had “respect” for federal investigators and apologized for causing “trauma,” but appeared to defend his alleged actions.
“Frankly, these parasites had it coming,” the manifesto says.
It claimed that the United States had the “most expensive health care system in the world” but criticized the system for America ranking only 42nd in life expectancy.
