President Donald Trump complained that the world was becoming a “casino” after a U.S. soldier was charged with allegedly using classified information to make over $400,000 on the operation to capture former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Speaking with reporters at the Oval Office about insider trading in prediction markets, a journalist asked the president whether he was concerned that insider trading could be used to profit from the war with Iran.
“The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino,” Trump responded, saying he was never a fan of prediction markets.
“I don’t like it conceptually, but it is what it is,” he added, saying he wasn’t happy with it.
“It’s a crazy world; it’s a much different world than it was,” Trump concluded.
Concerns about insider trading being used to enrich people off of real-world events, possibly endangering national security in the process, came to the forefront on Thursday when the first American was charged with using classified information to make over $400,000 by actively predicting the raid to capture Maduro.
US SOLDIER CHARGED AFTER ALLEGEDLY MAKING OVER $400,000 ON MADURO RAID BET
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, was charged by the Department of Justice with the unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction, charges that could land him in prison for up to 60 years. He placed bets totaling over $33,000 relating to the U.S. operation to capture Maduro.
Though Van Dyke became the first American to be charged with insider trading over Polymarket, the title of the first ever to be charged belongs to two Israelis, who were charged in February with using state secrets to make money off of bets surrounding the 12-day war in June 2025.
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