Polymarket introduced voluntary deposit limits, self-exclusion tools and access to behavioural-health support on Sept. 30, adding safeguards more commonly associated with regulated online sportsbooks to its U.S. prediction-market platform.
U.S. users can set daily, weekly or monthly deposit caps across funding methods. A reduction takes effect immediately, while raising or removing a limit triggers a cooling-off period. Polymarket US’s Trust & Safety Hub puts that delay at 72 hours and says attempted deposits above a limit are declined for ACH, debit-card and wire payments.
Users may exclude themselves for one month, three months, six months, one year or permanently, according to the platform’s hub. During an exclusion, they cannot open positions or make deposits, although they can close existing positions, allow them to settle and withdraw available funds. Accounts are automatically reinstated once a selected fixed term expires.
The rollout also created a Trust & Safety Center spanning user protections, market integrity, community guidelines and content-moderation standards across Polymarket’s U.S. and international platforms. The company is expanding its Trust & Safety team and is developing responsible-trading education, including a co-branded guide with Birches Health that contains a four-question self-check for people who may need further support.
Birches Health, a provider of behavioural and process-addiction treatment, will offer users resources for compulsive financial-trading behaviour. Its virtual care is available in all 50 states and includes clinical assessments, personalised recovery plans and ongoing treatment. Polymarket US describes the care as confidential, fully online and potentially insurance-covered.
The platform’s U.S. hub also sets out market-integrity controls. New accounts are screened against prohibited-trader lists, with matches restricted to liquidate-only activity. Its rules prohibit, among other conduct, insider trading, trading by people able to influence an outcome, fraud, manipulation, spoofing, wash trading and misuse of information.
Malea Otranto, Polymarket’s global head of trust and safety, described the protections as “the floor, not the ceiling” of the company’s safety efforts. The company plans to track use of the tools and may adjust them.
The measures arrive as prediction markets face pressure over whether they should be governed like gambling. Polymarket US operates as a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated designated contract market under the Commodity Exchange Act, while a bipartisan coalition of 44 states has argued in court that prediction platforms should be subject to state gambling laws.
New York sued Polymarket the week before the announcement, calling it an unlicensed gambling operation and seeking to block it from operating in the state. The state also sought fines and user restitution. Polymarket denied wrongdoing and filed a federal countersuit.
The sportsbook comparison reflects the composition of trading on the U.S. platform: sports and sports-related multi-leg parlays represented more than 98% of its volume that month, according to TickerTracker data cited by CNN. Jonathan Cohen said the restrictions were standard on online betting platforms, while Joshua Kirschner said federal law lacks an equivalent to the extensive responsible-gambling requirements imposed in some states.
