Here’s the thing about Ohio that most prediction-market roundups get wrong: they lump Polymarket in with Kalshi because the two companies run on the same federal theory, and in most states that’s a fair shorthand. Ohio breaks that shorthand. It is the state that has gone furthest — cease-and-desist letters, a $5 million fine, a federal appeal all the way to the Sixth Circuit — and every single step of it has Kalshi’s name on the caption, not Polymarket’s.

What Ohio Actually Regulates

House Bill 29 legalized retail and online sports betting starting January 1, 2023. The Ohio Casino Control Commission licenses about 13 mobile sportsbooks — DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM and the rest — plus retail windows at every casino and racino, and it taxes all of them at 20% of gross gaming revenue, doubled from the original 10% rate back in mid-2023. That’s the framework the OCCC says Kalshi, Robinhood and Crypto.com sidestepped when they started taking Ohio bets without a license.

The three names on Ohio’s cease-and-desist: Kalshi, Robinhood and Crypto.com, sent April 2025 with a compliance deadline of April 14. Polymarket was not one of them, and nothing issued since — the March 2026 federal ruling, the $5 million fine notice, the Sixth Circuit appeal — has added its name to the list.

Is Polymarket Legal in Ohio Right Now?

Nothing has blocked an Ohio resident from opening a Polymarket US account. No cease-and-desist, no fine, no lawsuit — in a state that has produced all three against a direct competitor running the identical CFTC designated-contract-market argument. That gap is worth taking seriously rather than reading as a clean bill of health: the OCCC’s legal theory against Kalshi doesn’t mention Kalshi by name in its reasoning, it targets unlicensed sports event contracts as a category. It has simply chosen not to point that theory at Polymarket yet.

The Kalshi Fight, Fast

April 2025: cease-and-desist letters go out. Kalshi refuses to comply and sues in federal court, arguing the CFTC’s designation preempts Ohio gambling law entirely. March 2026: an Ohio federal judge sides with the state. April 14, 2026: the OCCC moves to fine Kalshi $5 million, pointing specifically to underage users, unpaid state tax, and advertising that didn’t meet Ohio’s standards. April 24: a three-judge Sixth Circuit panel denies Kalshi’s emergency request to pause enforcement and fast-tracks the appeal. July 30: oral arguments, consolidated with Ohio’s parallel case against Kalshi in Tennessee, with the CFTC weighing in on Kalshi’s side. No ruling yet as of this writing.

Two Ohio Bills, Two Different Targets

Sen. Bill DeMora’s Senate Bill 430 would rewrite Ohio’s sports gaming law to explicitly cover prediction-market event contracts — licensed, regulated and taxed like any other sportsbook — as a backstop in case courts eventually side with states over the CFTC. It targets the product category, so it would reach Polymarket exactly as hard as Kalshi if it passes. Separately, Rep. Sean Brennan’s bill — introduced the same month — does something narrower: it bars Ohio public officials and staff from trading on prediction markets, and it names both Kalshi and Polymarket directly. Brennan pointed to a state figure that over 35,000 Ohioans had wagered on Kalshi in a single year. That ethics bill is the first place Polymarket shows up in Ohio legislation by name — not the enforcement side, the conflict-of-interest side.

Is Polymarket Legit and Safe in Ohio?

Legit: the Kalshi case that dominates Ohio’s prediction-market coverage isn’t a fraud allegation — it’s a licensing and tax dispute, and the CFTC itself backed Kalshi’s jurisdiction argument in court. None of that touches whether Polymarket pays out honestly. Safe: mechanically usable today, with CFTC oversight and KYC verification, but without the specific protections — the 20% tax that funds problem-gambling services, licensed ad standards, state self-exclusion — Ohio requires of its 13 licensed sportsbooks. A contract can still expire worthless no matter who’s regulating it.

What This Means If You’re in Ohio

Right now: Polymarket US works from an Ohio IP, untouched by the state’s most aggressive prediction-market enforcement campaign to date. Watch three things, not one — whether the Sixth Circuit’s eventual ruling on Kalshi gets applied to Polymarket too, whether SB 430 moves out of committee and folds prediction markets into Ohio’s licensing regime outright, and whether the OCCC ever sends Polymarket the letter it sent three other companies back in April 2025. This isn’t a sportsbook account and it isn’t income — a contract is a bet you can lose in full. 21+ only, and if it stops feeling like a choice, 1-800-GAMBLER is free and confidential.