Is Polymarket Legal in the US? Status as of September 2026
Yes. Polymarket has been legal for US traders since December 2, 2025.
If you remember it being blocked, you are not misremembering. Polymarket geo-blocked US users for three years following a 2022 CFTC settlement, and a lot of what you will find written about this is from that period.
The thing that trips people up now is that "Polymarket" is two different venues with two different legal statuses. Getting that wrong is the actual risk, not the legality question.
Two Polymarkets
Polymarket US is a CFTC-regulated exchange. Polymarket bought QCEX, a licensed Designated Contract Market and clearinghouse, for $112 million in July 2025. The CFTC granted an Amended Order of Designation that November and US access opened on December 2. It requires full identity verification, runs on dollars, and issues 1099 tax reporting. This is the one you are allowed to use.
Polymarket International is the original wallet-native platform, settling in USDC on Polygon, with no platform-level KYC. It is not available to US persons, and using a VPN to reach it is a violation of its terms rather than a clever workaround. It issues no tax forms.
The US version dropped its waitlist in May 2026, so access no longer queues. Volume moved accordingly: Polymarket US did $5.0B in July 2026, up 54% month over month, while the international platform fell 26% to $7.9B.
The part that is actually contested
Federal legality is settled. What is not settled is whether sports event contracts are financial derivatives or sports bets, and that question is being fought across more than a dozen states against both Polymarket and Kalshi.
The core dispute is whether these contracts are "swaps" under the Commodity Exchange Act. If they are, and they trade on a licensed exchange, the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction and state gambling law is preempted. If they are not, states can regulate them like any other wager.
The Third Circuit accepted the swaps argument on April 6, 2026. The Ninth Circuit rejected it 3-0 on August 28, ruling on challenges by Kalshi, Crypto.com and Robinhood to Nevada's enforcement, and held that their sports event contracts are sports gambling rather than swaps. That split has already reached the Supreme Court: New Jersey petitioned on September 2, and Robinhood and Crypto.com filed petitions from the Nevada ruling on September 10 and 11. None of them has been granted yet.
Most of the litigation names Kalshi as the lead defendant because it moved first and moved harder, but Polymarket is a party to a growing share of it.
Where Polymarket faces restrictions, as of September 24, 2026
| State | Status |
|---|---|
| Nevada | The Gaming Control Board filed civil enforcement against Polymarket, including the US exchange, on January 16, 2026. A Carson City judge granted a temporary restraining order at the end of that month, and Polymarket reportedly stopped offering event contracts in the state |
| New York | The Attorney General and Governor sued Polymarket US on September 24, 2026, calling it an unlicensed gambling operation and seeking restitution, disgorgement and penalties |
| Michigan | Polymarket sued Attorney General Dana Nessel in March. A federal judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction on June 17, holding its sports contracts are not swaps, and Polymarket appealed to the Sixth Circuit |
| Minnesota | Passed the first outright state ban in May, due to take effect August 1. Polymarket US, Kalshi and the CFTC won a preliminary injunction against it on July 27 |
| Missouri | The Attorney General sent Polymarket and five other operators cease-and-desist letters, announced September 18, giving them 30 days to stop offering sports contracts or get licensed |
| Rhode Island | The Attorney General sued Kalshi and Polymarket in state court on May 21 |
| Wisconsin | Named in the state Department of Justice suits filed April 23 alongside Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase and Crypto.com |
| Kentucky | Named in the Attorney General's June 17 suit |
| New Mexico | Polymarket US sued the Attorney General and the Gaming Control Board in federal court on June 30 to head off enforcement |
| Maryland | Baltimore filed a city consumer protection action against Polymarket and Kalshi on August 13 |
If your state is not in the table, we did not find an action naming Polymarket there, which is not the same as a guarantee. Rulings in cases against other platforms can still apply, since most of them turn on the contract type rather than the company. Non-sports categories have stayed almost entirely clear of the litigation, since nobody has argued that a CPI print or a hurricane landfall resembles sports betting.
Does the legal fight affect your money?
Two practical answers.
Your funds are not the exposure here. Polymarket US clears through a CFTC-licensed clearinghouse, and the state cases are about whether particular contract categories may be offered, not about platform solvency. The realistic worst case in a losing state is that sports markets get geofenced away from you, which is what happened to Kalshi users in Nevada in March.
Taxes are a real difference between the two venues. Polymarket US issues 1099 reporting. The international platform issues nothing and leaves you reconstructing USDC-denominated trades yourself, which is a genuinely unpleasant job at volume, and is a second reason the US version is the right default for anyone in the country.
What to check before you fund an account
Confirm you are on Polymarket US rather than the international site. Confirm your state is not one of the restricted set above, and note that New York and Missouri both joined it in the final week before this update.
None of this is legal or tax advice. The position moves fast enough that you should verify the current status where you live rather than trusting any article, this one included.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Americans trade on Polymarket?
Was Polymarket banned in the US?
Can you have a Polymarket account in the USA?
Is it illegal to use a VPN for Polymarket in the US?
Which states restrict Polymarket?
Sources
- Polymarket US fee schedule and exchange documentation
- Polymarket CFTC approval, November 2025
- Ninth Circuit opinion, KalshiEX v. Assad, August 28 2026
- Supreme Court docket 26-299, Flaherty v. KalshiEX
- New York sues Polymarket, Governor's office, September 24 2026
- Nevada Gaming Control Board files civil enforcement action against Polymarket, January 16 2026
- Missouri Attorney General cease-and-desist letters, September 18 2026
- Minnesota ban put on hold by federal judge, MPR News, July 27 2026
- Prediction markets legal timeline, RotoWire
- Kalshi and Polymarket July volume, The Block
- Baltimore consumer protection actions, August 13 2026
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Juan Sebastian Brito is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bet Hero, a sports betting analytics platform used by thousands of bettors to find +EV opportunities and arbitrage. With a background in software engineering and computer science from FIB (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), he built Bet Hero to bring data-driven, mathematically-proven betting strategies to the mainstream. His work focuses on probability theory, real-time odds analysis, and building tools that give bettors a quantifiable edge.
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