Someone Used A Hairdryer To Manipulate Weather Sensor To Win $34K Bet

The surge of gambling is definitely changing society. The ease of access, and the ability to bet on literally anything at the press of a button from the thing that's in your pocket is having some people do some really wild things.

French officials are investigating after a man won a $34,000 bet (well, £25,100) on Polymarket, an app that allows people to bet on real-world predictions.

Twice in April, on the same dates that there were some high dollar winnings on Polymarket, the weather sensors at Charles de Gaulle airport were tampered with - the results, a weird spike in the weather temperature. 

“In view of physical findings on one of our instruments and the analysis of sensor data, Météo-France was indeed led to file a complaint for alteration of the operation of an automated data processing system with the Air Transport Gendarmerie Brigade of Roissy,” a spokesperson said.

On April 6th and April 15th, peak temperatures were recorded way higher than were expected, spiking at 7pm and 9:30pm. The expected temperatures for the day were under 18º celsius (64ºF) but they hit 21ºF and 22ºF.

Because of the change in temperature, one trader won $21,000 (£15,600) on 15 April with the total number of successful bets totalling $34,000 (£25,100).

Some of the theories include a battery-powered hairdryer or a heat gun, being held on the sensor just long enough to hit the mark.

“We reported these suspicions internally to Météo France, and the least we can say is that our report was taken very seriously and at a high level, resulting in a formal complaint being filed.”

We'll see what comes of it, but it sounds pretty cut and clear what happened and who did it.

Read more at NPR