This week’s Club Sportico essay addresses the slew of sex toys that have been thrown onto the court at various WNBA games, in various cities, over the course of the last week.
What originally looked like a one-off childish stunt—one that angered players and delighted some media members—has quickly grown into something much bigger. While some in WNBA circles have point to the sex toys as another example of the sexualization of women, the real story is more about how quickly the internet economy rewards viral moments.
Polymarket, a popular online futures market, threw gas on the fire with an aggressive social media push around the sex toys, giving fans the ability to wager on when the next would be thrown. On Tuesday evening, an anonymous user bet $13,044 that it would happen that night. A few hours later, it did. The user—perhaps even the thrower—pocketed more than $6,000.
Here is an excerpt of that essay ✍️:
“DraftKings and FanDuel operate in heavily regulated ways. Fan reward programs offer relatively low stakes. The new prediction markets often operate outside both of those constraints. That’s how you get $180,000 in volume on a Polymarket offering on whether another sex toy would be thrown by Aug. 10. (Ed’s note: It was. There were two Thursday night in Chicago alone.).
Polymarket is capitalizing on the internet virality of an act that appears to have started with a group that was trying to… capitalize on internet virality! According to The Athletic and others, at least some of these incidents, including the original toss, were perpetrated by a group looking to boost the value of an internet memecoin.2 It’s hard to see where the snake’s head ends and the tail begins.
Since we’re talking about prediction markets, here’s a prediction of my own: the crass in-your-face marketing may backfire on Polymarket. Up until last week, I thought Kalshi and its peers were likely on a smooth path toward easy growth. The mess at the CFTC, which technically regulates these future markets, and the direct way in which the Trump family benefits financially from the industry’s growth seemed to make its future success a fait accompli.
But if anything is going to slow this gravy train, it’ll be tasteless advertising and social posts that openly encourage wagering on sex toys being thrown at pro athletes. Don’t be surprised if you see that “daily dildos” X post on a poster board during a Capitol Hill hearing at some point in the future. Maybe it’s for the better.”
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