Polymarket Returns to U.S. After Nearly Four Years

Polymarket is officially back in the U.S. after having been banished for nearly four years.

The prediction-markets platform had been barred from operating in the U.S. under a settlement with the Joe Biden–era Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reached in January 2022. 

The company, which has been teasing its imminent return since the summer, announced Wednesday that the app has started to become available for those who signed up on the wait list, which has more than 200,000 people. It had already launched in beta mode—UFC CEO Dana White was among those who had early access. As its return inched closer, Polymarket rose to the No. 1 downloaded free sports app on Apple’s App Store.

It will debut with sports event contracts and later add “markets on everything.” International users of Polymarket are currently able to trade on questions including whether Pete Hegseth will be “out as Secretary of Defense by March 31” and what price will gold close at in 2025.

Sports event contracts have caused controversy in the U.S. due to their similarity to sports betting, which is regulated on a state-by-state basis. Polymarket’s primary competitor, Kalshi, has been offering sports event contracts in all 50 states, arguing there is a technical difference between trading on prediction markets and betting on sports. Kalshi has been fighting numerous legal battles over its sports offerings; it remains to be seen whether Polymarket will face similar challenges.

Experts previously told Front Office Sports that the app’s long-awaited return was likely delayed due to a technical issue caused by the federal government shutdown, which lasted 43 days and ended Nov. 12. Polymarket’s U.S. return comes a little less than two months after the operator of the New York Stock Exchange agreed to invest up to $2 billion in the company.

Polymarket returns to a country with a much different prediction-markets makeup than the one it left in 2022. The industry has been flooded with new entrants, including PrizePicks, Underdog, Novig, and President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform. 

Prediction markets are now where traditional sportsbooks want to be. DraftKings and FanDuel intend to launch platforms of their own soon with a focus on states where mobile sports betting is still illegal, and on Wednesday, Fanatics launched its own prediction-markets platform that is live in 10 states, including Delaware, South Dakota, and Utah.