Polymarket rolled out consumer protections and anti-addiction measures Wednesday as policymakers press for federal regulation of prediction markets. The safeguards allow users to set deposit limits that cannot be immediately undone and place themselves on an exclusion list that temporarily or permanently blocks platform access. The company also partnered with Birches Health, a virtual gambling addiction therapy provider, to offer mental health resources.
Malea Otranto, Polymarket's head of global safety, said the priority is making these tools available to millions of users. "Users trust Polymarket to protect them and keep them safe," she said.
Prediction sites operate as federally regulated financial markets, meaning they escape state consumer protection laws that apply to casinos and sportsbooks. Companies voluntarily offer user protection tools—a gap lawmakers say is dangerous.
Jonathan Cohen, who leads gambling policy at the American Institute for Boys and Men, acknowledged Polymarket's moves but questioned their impact. He cited data from state regulators showing few gamblers use similar tools on traditional sportsbooks. "These restrictions are standard for online sports-betting platforms," Cohen said, "indicating that prediction market companies recognize user behavior is similar to, if not synonymous with, gambling."
Otranto confirmed Polymarket will track usage of the safeguards and may adjust them based on that data.
Polymarket and rival Kalshi fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a smaller federal agency historically focused on commodities like soybean futures and oil derivatives. Sports markets drive the prediction market boom—sports and multi-leg parlays accounted for more than 98 percent of trading volume this month on Polymarket's U.S. site.
Congress continues to debate regulatory authority. The CFTC previously withdrew its own rulemaking attempts, leaving states, Congress and the agency all asserting jurisdiction. The American Gaming Association has argued that state regulators already operate comprehensive consumer-protection programs and that a federal overlay is unnecessary.
