Polymarket launches deposit limits and self-exclusion in the United States

Polymarket said on Wednesday that U.S. users can now set deposit limits, self-exclude voluntarily, and access mental health resources if they show compulsive trading behavior. For high-risk PSPs, the important bit is not the consumer-facing language; it is that prediction markets are getting closer to the kind of controls regulators already expect from betting and gambling stacks.

1. Polymarket also launched a Trust and Safety Center, which brings together information on platform rules and the tools available to users. Malea Otranto, global head of the center, said people should be able to set their limits, walk away when they want, and know the rules. Her line on the rollout was that it is “the starting point, not the limit.”
2. The platform’s self-exclusion can last 30 days, one year, or permanently. Users can also set daily, weekly, and monthly deposit limits. Lowering a limit takes effect immediately; raising or removing a limit requires a cooling-off period.
3. Polymarket said it has partnered with Birches Health, a provider of gambling addiction therapy and the largest national provider of behavioral and process addiction treatment. That matters because it gives the platform a formal outside referral path instead of leaving problem-gambling support as a help-page afterthought.
4. The measures land while prediction markets are booming in the United States, with people betting on everything from sports to election outcomes. Unlike sportsbooks, U.S. prediction markets are classified as federally regulated financial markets, which means they are exempt from state consumer protection laws. Still, lawmakers in 44 states are trying to change that.
5. New York sued Polymarket last week, accusing it of bypassing the state’s strict gambling rules. Polymarket responded with a federal lawsuit, arguing that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not the state, has authority over its event contracts, according to CNBC. New York also sued Kalshi, Polymarket’s competitor, for violating state gambling laws.

There is also an insider-trading angle here, and it is not a small one. Both platforms are facing scrutiny over suspicious trading, and some lawmakers want them to do more to stop it. In April, a member of the U.S. Armed Forces who took part in the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was accused of using classified information to make more than US$400.000 on Polymarket trades tied to the capture date. That same month, the Senate passed a bipartisan resolution aimed at barring its members from participating in prediction markets.