Polymarket US vs sportsbooks in Texas
Why Polymarket US is legal in Texas when sportsbooks are not
Texas has no legal online sports betting: no online sportsbook is licensed, every legalization bill to date has died without reaching the governor, and the legislature meets only in odd years. Polymarket US is Polymarket's US-regulated exchange (QCEX/QCX), launched December 2025 with a sports-led rollout, and this site tracks its availability state by state: the table below is Texas's row, with the date each status was last verified against the venue's own terms.
Current status and notes: prediction markets in Texas.
Event-contract venues in Texas
| Venue | Status in Texas | Taker fee | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalshi | Available in Texas | 7% × price × (1 − price) per contract, rounded up per order; general schedule, not re-verified | 2026-09-18 |
| Robinhood | Available in Texas | Not modelled on this site | 2026-09-18 |
| Polymarket US | Limited in Texas | Not modelled on this site | 2026-09-18 |
| Polymarket | Not available in Texas | Up to 7% by category (measured: Sports 5%, Zero 0%, Crypto 7%) | 2026-09-21 |
What the fees look like
This site does not model a Polymarket US fee schedule, so no Polymarket US fee figure appears on this page; the calculator below prices Kalshi and the offshore Polymarket's per-category taker fees. The structural point stands on either exchange: a standard -110 sportsbook line embeds roughly 4.5% of implied probability as margin, while exchange fees on event contracts are typically lower and shown on the ticket rather than inside the odds.
On $100 at 50¢ you pay $3.50 in fees on Kalshi
1.75¢ per contract · 200 contracts
On $100 at 50¢ you pay $2.50 in fees on Polymarket US
1.25¢ per contract · 200 contracts
Polymarket rate read from the catalog for sports_fees_v3 (15,702 markets in a sample of 20,000 rows drawn from 580,600 in the archive). Kalshi's rate is its published general schedule; the PDF has been rate-limiting fetches, so it is documented rather than verified.
Exchange-side taker fees per each venue's published formula (rate × contracts × price × (1 − price)); contracts = stake ÷ price, rounded down to whole contracts. Fees peak at 50¢ and shrink toward the extremes. Most quoted cross-venue “arbs” are negative-EV after these fees; the taker-fee breakeven on a Kalshi/Polymarket pair is roughly 3.5–4¢.
Questions people ask
Is Polymarket US available in Texas?
Polymarket US is limited in Texas on this site's state matrix, last verified 2026-09-18: Phased sports-led rollout; availability varies by state — verify at signup.
Is there a legal online sportsbook in Texas?
No. No online sportsbook is licensed in Texas; every legalization bill to date has died without reaching the governor, and the legislature meets only in odd years.
What does Polymarket US charge per trade?
This site does not model a Polymarket US fee schedule. The calculator on this page prices Kalshi (7% general taker rate, rounded up per order) and the offshore Polymarket (up to 7% by category), not Polymarket US.
Which event-contract venues does this site track in Texas?
Kalshi and Robinhood are marked available in Texas; Polymarket US is marked limited; Polymarket is marked not available. Statuses were last verified against venue terms on 2026-09-21.
What we cannot verify
Kalshi's 7% general taker rate is carried from a previously read fee schedule: kalshi.com/docs/kalshi-fee-schedule.pdf has returned HTTP 429 to every fetch since 2026-09-21, so the rate is documented, not re-verified against the current document. This site does not model a Polymarket US fee schedule: the calculator on this page prices Kalshi and the offshore Polymarket's per-category taker fees, not Polymarket US, and no Polymarket US fee figure appears anywhere on this site. The venue statuses in the table are an editorial seed compiled from public reporting, last verified against venue terms on 2026-09-21; they change with court rulings and state enforcement actions, and a status has not been re-checked since its date. The sportsbook side - which operators are licensed in Texas - is stated from this site's own legality write-up and has not been re-verified against the state regulator's licensee list.
Sources
Try Polymarket US in Texas
No verified referral code is live right now — sign up directly at Polymarket US.
Disclosure: promo codes on this site are referral offers when shown. If you sign up through them, the operator may pay this site a referral credit at no extra cost to you. Terms and eligibility are set by the venue and can change.