Is Polymarket Legal in the US? 2026 Status of Polymarket's Legality in the United States

The question “Is Polymarket legal in the US?” has been thrown around for a bit now. One minute it’s not available and the next, it is, but you’d have to be on a waitlist to get the app.

So I did some digging and finally got to the root of the matter. The short answer is yes, a version of Polymarket is available in the US. However, there’s details which I’ll get into in this guide. I’ll look at the legal status of prediction markets in the US before getting into whether traders can use Polymarket there.

Quick facts about Polymarket’s status in the US

• Polymarket currently isn’t available in the US.
• However, US traders can use Polymarket US instead.
• Unlike Polymarket, Polymarket US is operated by QCX LLC, which is CFTC-registered.
• You can currently only access Polymarket US via its iOS app.

Are prediction markets legal in the US?

The short answer is Yes. Prediction market sites like Polymarket US can operate in the US as long as they follow CFTC rules and comply with other local regulations.

That said, the availability of certain prediction market sites can still change from state to state. There are several reasons for that, including some platforms just avoiding certain markets voluntarily. So you’ll need to check the T&Cs to see if you’re eligible before joining any prediction market websites.

Is Polymarket available in the US?

Polymarket US is, but Polymarket isn’t. Here’s a little backstory that explains why. Sometime in January, 2022, Polymarket caught some smoke from the CFTC for offering binary trading options without being registered properly. Long story short, Polymarket had to close shop in the US until it became a duly registered site. Plus, it got slammed with a $1.4 million penalty as part of the CFTC enforcement on offshore prediction markets.

So, from January, 2022, US traders could no longer access the site’s international interface. However, when the CFTC amended its order of designation in November, 2025, the stars aligned for Polymarket’s re-entry into the US. Here’s how that happened.

Enter Polymarket US

It was also in 2025 that the CFTC began to treat event contracts as part of an existing commodity-derivatives model instead of a separate designation. That change in approach helped Polymarket get back in the US. I’ll explain.

Polymarket acquired QCX LLC, which became a CFTC-registered derivatives exchange and clearing house thanks to the regulatory body’s amended order that I mentioned earlier. Owning QCX gave Polymarket access to a DCM license, which allowed it to open up shop in the US. All it had to do was integrate the infrastructure needed to offer event contracts into QCX’s existing models. That didn’t take long, and now the Polymarket global regulatory footprint is a hybrid where there’s a CFTC-regulated product for US traders and an offshore product, which US traders can’t access.

So are there any differences between the two brands? Yes, there are. Here’s a quick look at what I observed:

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Explore Polymarket US state based features

How does Polymarket work?

Polymarket is a prediction market site where you can trade event contracts on several categories of real-world events, including sports, finance, crypto, culture, politics, mentions, and more. You’d do this trading using binary “Yes”/“No” contracts on the possibility of a specific outcome. The prices of the contracts are determined by market sentiment and are usually between $0.01 and $0.99. Plus, you’d only have to pay chump change in Polymarket trading fees.

For instance, if you traded any one of the available Polymarket sports contracts and your prediction about the outcome of the event comes correct, you’ll get $1.00. If it's a miss, you get nada, and the contract expires. Another catch is that at the time of writing, Polymarket is only offering sports predictions markets in the US, though that is set to change in the near future.

I forgot to mention that the site runs on the Polygon blockchain and that you’d need a crypto wallet as Polymarket payouts are in USDC. At least that’s the case for the global brand; Polymarket US uses USD. The site’s kind of a big deal as far as prediction markets go. Besides its cool fee structure and tons of markets that you can trade on, it’s powered by a decentralized infrastructure and has a pop culture status most prediction market sites can’t beat.

Pros and cons of using Polymarket

I’ve curated a couple of pros and cons of using the Polymarket prediction site in the US

US traders can access Polymarket

Polymarket’s availability in the US has been an iffy situation for most traders, no thanks to all the back-and-forth. The good news is US traders now have access to its US version after that drama. The US product can currently be accessed via an iOS app, but I learned that an Android app is in the pipeline.

Want to give Polymarket US a try? You can use one of the banners on this page to get started today.

Polymarket in the US FAQs