How the New System Works
Polymarket operates using a dynamic pricing system that differs from a fixed fee , the commission on a bet is actually tied to the probability of an event actually happening. As the odds get tighter and the probability is more 50/50, the commission goes up and vice versa. The closer you get to a sure thing – either very likely to happen (0%) or very unlikely (100%) the lower the commission and may even drop down to almost nothing.
Here are the peak commission rates by category – note cryptocurrency is by far the costliest at 1.8%, Economics is next at 1.5%, followed by Finance at 1.0%, then Culture & Weather come in at 1.25% followed by Politics & Tech at 1%, then Sports at 0.75% – and for now Geopolitics is still free to bet.
Betting on a sports contract with 50/50 chances of winning and a $50 bet will come out at roughly $0.38 using the new rules – a whole 16 cents more than under the old rules where the same bet would have cost you $0.22.
Market makers on those tricky to predict Sports markets will get a 25% rebate on commissions paid, which for Cryptocurrency markets is 20%. This cash gets fed into a reward scheme which aims to keep the markets nice and liquid.
Competitors and Their Fees
Polymarket’s main rival, Kalshi, uses its own twist on a dynamic model, one that seems to be doing the trick for them. Their fees are a bit of an odd range, anywhere from 0.07% to 7%, with a pretty standard average of 1-1.5%. Kalshi raked in $8.7 million in fees during the Superbowl.
Other players in the market are taking a more straightforward approach. FanDuel Predicts, for instance, charges a flat $0.02 on every dollar that could be won. Similarly Fanatics Predicts charges a small fee that can range anywhere from $0.0034 to $0.02 per contract. Then there’s Robinhood, who are getting in on the action with their own prediction platform, where each contract comes with a $0.02 fee, $0.01 of which goes straight to Robinhood and the other $0.01 gets sent Kalshi’s way due to a pre-existing partnership between the two.
FanDuel is preparing to launch its own prediction platform. DraftKings has already entered the space, launching DraftKings Predictions in December 2025 across 38 states. According to reports from iGB, both companies are planning on dumping at least $100 million into getting their development off the ground this year.
The Debate Over Zero Commissions
Polymarket’s shift to a paid model came amid a broad industry-wide discussion. Some experts believe that major platforms will eventually move toward zero commissions, just as online brokers did about a decade ago, when Fidelity and Charles Schwab effectively eliminated their fees.
Alex Kane, CEO of Sporttrade, predicts that by 2029, the three largest prediction market operators will offer zero commissions. According to him, large platforms will be able to afford this due to their scale, while smaller players will come under pressure.
Lloyd Danzig of Sharp Alpha Advisors disagrees. He says that if platforms start competing by lowering commissions to zero, they will need either a very strong brand or a unique offering that will make users choose them specifically.
Context
Polymarket is reportedly targeting a $20 billion valuation in an ongoing funding round backed by Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. In January 2026, the combined trading volume on Polymarket and Kalshi exceeded $17 billion in a single month.
The introduction of fees signals that the era of free access, which helped the platform grow its user base, has come to an end. Now Polymarket is testing whether users are willing to pay for the same markets that were previously free.
