Must be 18 years or older and have a legal, U.S. residential address within the applicable state, D.C., or U.S. territories. Not available in AZ, IL, MA, MD, MI, MT, NJ, NV and OH. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2573). Chat available at ncpgambling.org/chat
Polymarket is the world’s largest prediction-market exchange by liquidity, trading yes/no event contracts on sports, politics, culture, and economics. It runs on the Polygon blockchain with positions denominated and settled in USDC. Polymarket is now live for real-money trading in the US following its 2025 acquisition of QCX, a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market. New US traders can claim a 100% deposit match up to $50 with the Polymarket promo code ACQUIRE05 via the link above.
What is Polymarket?
Polymarket is the world’s largest prediction-market exchange by liquidity, where users trade yes/no event contracts on sports, politics, culture, and economics. Rather than acting as a traditional sportsbook, Polymarket runs as a peer-to-peer market: every trade has a buyer and a seller, and prices reflect the market’s collective view of how likely an outcome is.
Contracts settle at $1 if the predicted outcome happens and $0 if it doesn’t, with prices quoted in cents in between. A contract trading at 40¢ means the market is pricing the outcome at roughly a 40% probability. Positions are denominated and settled in USDC on the Polygon blockchain, and users can open, close, or trade out of positions before resolution.
Polymarket is now live for US real-money trading following its 2025 acquisition of QCX, a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market. US traders can access the platform from most states with the exception of Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, and Ohio, where it is not currently available.
This is a Polymarket review for US sports bettors weighing prediction markets against traditional sportsbooks. Below: how the contract pricing and settlement model works, the current US trading status, the sports markets the platform lists, fees and crypto-rail funding, sign-up steps, and our verdict on who Polymarket suits.
Polymarket US trading: where things stand
This is the key thing to understand if you are a US user. In 2025 Polymarket acquired QCX, a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market, and that licence is the regulatory route through which it now offers real-money event-contract trading to US users under federal CFTC oversight. You can sign up, fund an account, and place trades on live markets.
Availability is broad but not universal. Polymarket is open to US traders in most states, with the exception of Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada and Ohio. You must be 18 or older with a legal US residential address in an eligible state, D.C., or a US territory. Always check your local rules before trading.
Practical implication: US prediction-market traders now have two CFTC-regulated platforms to choose from. Kalshi trades in all 50 states with bank-direct fiat funding. Polymarket brings the deepest global liquidity, no built-in overround, and crypto-rail (USDC) funding, and is live across the US bar the nine states above. The choice now comes down to funding method, market breadth and state coverage rather than which one you can actually use.
Polymarket promo code & invite code: 100% up to $50
New US users can claim a 100% deposit match up to $50 with code ACQUIRE05. Sign up, enter the code, and Polymarket matches your first deposit dollar-for-dollar up to $50 — giving you extra balance to trade across its sports, politics and culture markets. You must be 18 or older with a legal US residential address in an eligible state; the offer is not available in Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada or Ohio.
How Polymarket works
Polymarket markets are binary outcome contracts. Each market poses a yes/no question (e.g. “Will Arsenal win the 2026 Champions League?”), prices contracts in cents on a 1¢-99¢ scale, and resolves to $1 for the correct side or $0 for the wrong side at expiry. The price reflects the market’s aggregated probability assessment in real time.
Unlike a sportsbook, you can trade in and out of a position at any time before the event settles. If a yes contract bought at 30¢ moves to 60¢ on news flow, you can sell into the move and lock the profit without waiting for the underlying event to play out. This is the structural difference that makes prediction markets behave more like a futures exchange than a betting line.
Event contracts explained
Polymarket runs on Polygon, a layer-2 blockchain built on top of Ethereum. Contracts are tokenised: when you buy a yes position, you receive an ERC-20 token that represents your claim to $1 if the event resolves yes. Resolution is handled by Polymarket’s oracle system, which checks the underlying outcome and triggers smart-contract settlement.
How pricing differs from sportsbook odds
A sportsbook two-way market has overround built in: the yes and no implied probabilities sum above 100%, with the gap going to the book. Polymarket has no overround. The yes and no prices on a true binary market sum to roughly 100¢, with the tiny remainder reflecting platform fees and bid-ask spread. That no-overround structure is the structural draw for sharp US bettors now that real-money trading is live.
Sports markets on Polymarket
Polymarket’s sports book has grown substantially through 2025-26 and sits alongside its political, cultural, and economic markets. The main markets US users can trade:
- Soccer — Premier League title outright, Champions League winners, World Cup 2026 winners, MLS Cup, Liga MX title, player-of-the-tournament markets
- NFL — Super Bowl winner, conference winners, season win totals, MVP
- NBA — Finals winner, conference winners, MVP, Defensive Player of the Year
- MLB — World Series winner, division winners, Cy Young
- Player props and individual awards — Ballon d’Or, Heisman, golfer/tennis Grand Slam winners
- Live event spikes — major matches and tournaments often spawn Polymarket markets specific to the fixture
Polymarket leads the prediction-market space on liquidity for flagship events. Major political markets clear in the tens of millions of dollars; flagship sports markets such as Champions League winners or Super Bowl outright similarly attract serious volume globally. That liquidity tightens the spread and makes the implied probabilities more meaningful as data points. For active tracking of our preferred soccer Polymarket markets, see the soccer predictions hub.
Fees and spreads
Polymarket charges no per-trade commission for users; the platform’s revenue model relies on bid-ask spread and protocol-level fees built into liquidity provision. In practice, active traders pay less in friction than on a sportsbook two-way market. Withdrawals are handled via on-chain transfer of USDC back to the user’s wallet; gas fees apply at the network rate.
Funding flows are crypto-native. Users typically buy USDC via a fiat on-ramp (Moonpay, Stripe-powered card flows) and bridge into Polymarket’s Polygon-based wallet. Bank ACH funding of the traditional sportsbook sort is not supported. If you prefer fiat-rail funding (ACH, debit card) to crypto, Kalshi is the prediction-market platform built around bank-direct deposits.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Live for US real-money trading, CFTC-regulated via the QCX licence
- Highest global liquidity of any prediction-market platform on flagship events
- Broadest event-type catalogue (sports plus politics, culture, economics)
- No overround built into pricing
- Position trading lets you exit before resolution
- 100% deposit match up to $50 with code ACQUIRE05 for new US users
Cons
- Not available in nine states — Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada and Ohio
- Crypto-rail funding required (USDC) — adds a step versus bank-direct platforms
- Smaller in-play and player-prop catalogue than mainstream sportsbooks
How to sign up and trade
- Click through to Polymarket via our trading link
- Sign up with email and password, Google sign-on, or connect an existing crypto wallet (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet), and enter code ACQUIRE05 to claim the 100% deposit match
- Complete account setup and verify you are 18+ with a legal US residential address in an eligible state
- Fund your account in USDC (buy via the in-app fiat on-ramp or deposit from an external wallet)
- Browse markets, follow real-money pricing, and place your first trade
Polymarket vs Kalshi: which to use?
The two leading prediction-market platforms are now both live for US real-money trading, so the comparison comes down to how they work rather than whether you can use them. Kalshi is federally regulated as a CFTC Designated Contract Market, trades in all 50 states, and funds direct from your bank. Polymarket is the global liquidity leader with the broadest event-type catalogue and no built-in overround, funds in USDC over crypto rails, and is live across the US except for the nine excluded states.
For US prediction-market traders: if you want the widest state coverage and bank-direct funding, open a Kalshi account. If you want the deepest liquidity, the broadest range of markets and no-overround pricing — and you are comfortable funding in USDC — Polymarket is the pick. Both are CFTC-regulated under the same federal commodity-exchange framework.
Final verdict
Polymarket is the deepest, most liquid prediction-market platform in the world by a wide margin — and with US real-money trading now live via the QCX licence, US bettors can finally use it. The combination of global liquidity, no-overround pricing, and event-type breadth makes it a serious tool for sharp US traders. New users get a 100% deposit match up to $50 with code ACQUIRE05. If you are in one of the nine excluded states or you prefer bank-direct funding, Kalshi is the alternative.
Polymarket review FAQs
Can I trade Polymarket markets in the US right now?
Yes. Following its 2025 QCX acquisition, Polymarket offers real-money event-contract trading to US users under CFTC oversight. It is available in most states, with the exception of Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada and Ohio. You must be 18+ with a legal US residential address in an eligible state.
Which states is Polymarket not available in?
Polymarket is not currently available to traders in Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada or Ohio. If you are based in one of those states, Kalshi trades in all 50 states.
Is Polymarket legal in the US?
Yes. Polymarket’s 2025 acquisition of QCX, a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market, gives it a federal regulatory framework to offer event-contract trading to US users. As with any regulated product, availability varies by state, and it is not offered in the nine excluded states listed above.
Is Polymarket gambling?
Legally, no. Polymarket event contracts are CFTC-regulated commodity derivatives. Gains are generally reported as short-term capital gains rather than gambling winnings — the same tax treatment Kalshi users report.
How do I fund a Polymarket account?
Funding is in USDC on the Polygon network — buy via the in-app fiat on-ramp (card) or deposit from an external wallet such as MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet. New US users who deposit with code ACQUIRE05 get a 100% match up to $50.
How does Polymarket compare with Kalshi?
Both are CFTC-regulated and live for US real-money trading. Kalshi trades in all 50 states with bank-direct fiat funding. Polymarket offers deeper global liquidity and a broader event catalogue, funds in USDC, and is available across the US except the nine excluded states. Pick Kalshi for state coverage and fiat funding; pick Polymarket for liquidity and market breadth.
Must be 18+ with a legal US residential address in an eligible state. Not available in AZ, IL, MA, MD, MI, MT, NJ, NV and OH. Trading event contracts involves risk of loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This page is informational and is not investment advice. If you or someone you know has a problem with gambling, help is available at 1-800-GAMBLER.
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