Ball State quarterback Keldric Luster. Credit: Ball State, Polymarket
By Tyler Lauletta on

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The sudden ubiquity of prediction markets has overtaken the sudden ubiquity of advertisements for legalized sports betting as the most jarring aspect of watching sports in 2026.

While these prediction markets run plenty of ads on their own, they also have made aggressive moves to become a part of the conversation on “Sports Twitter” sharing viral posts and prompt tweets to expand engagement, as well as partnering with everything from brands and small creators to professional teams and leagues.

On Wednesday, one of Polymarket’s accounts was slammed with criticism after it posted what appeared to be an altered photo of Ball State quarterback Keldric Luster.

While the original post was deleted, screengrabs shared by users shaming Polymarket showed a post that read “Meet Ball State’s QB Keldric Luster: 250 pounds, 5’10”, fourth year. Brother is going to eat this year.” Comparisons to Luster’s actual team photo show that it appears as though Polymarket altered the photo to make him look bigger.

Ball State assistant athletic director Kevin Messenger called out Polymarket directly for the post.

“It was a garbage post by @PolymarketBlitz,” he wrote. “Then they deleted it and tried to remove the link, as if to hide and avoid scrutiny.”

Other critics agreed with Messenger, and lamented how wide the influence of Polymarket and similar prediction markets had spread online.

Altering images of a college athlete to score cheap internet points obviously sucks. When you think about the fact that the ones attempting to score those internet points are doing so to draw more users to a prediction market where they will inevitably lose money, it sucks even more.

Scrolling through the rest of the posts from the @PolymarketBlitz account, there doesn’t appear to be anything as egregious as photoshopping a college athlete’s photo, but there are other clear attempts at generating clicks via scandal, outrage, or any other intense emotions.

Those are from the last two days alone.

Does anyone at Polymarket actually care about Diego Pavia’s next step, or what shirt the Browns assistant GM was wearing, or streamers attempting to scam people, or male cheerleaders in the NFL? Doubtful.

But it’s probably good for us to ask. After all, questions are everything.

About Tyler Lauletta

Tyler is a editorial contributor at Awful Announcing, with previous stops at Sports Illustrated and Business Insider during his career covering sports in digital media. He is, begrudgingly, a Truster of the Process and general Philly sports sicko.

View all posts by Tyler Lauletta