Analysis topic
Photo: The Ordinary Moments / UnsplashUnited States
These pieces cover crypto, gambling and prediction markets for readers in the United States: state law on sweepstakes and fantasy sports, IRS rules on winnings, US exchange fees and the Stake.us lawsuits.
Gambling law is set state by state, and the state pages give each state's position from a state source.
Every figure in these pieces traces to a document named at the foot of the page it appears on. Nothing here is a recommendation to gamble.
41 pieces, newest first
· 6 minHow do bitcoin ATMs work? Fees, state caps and the scam numbers from the FBI and FTCA bitcoin ATM sells bitcoin for cash and sends it to a wallet address the customer supplies. CoinFlip's terms price purchases at a 21.90% transaction fee. The FBI's IC3 recorded 13,460 complaints and $389 million in losses tied to crypto ATMs in 2025, and California caps kiosk fees at the greater of $5 or 15%. · 6 minCan you buy crypto with a credit card? What four exchanges and three card issuers sayIn the US, Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini accept debit cards, not credit cards, for crypto purchases. Crypto.com's Pay on-ramp lists credit cards at a 3.99% fee. Where a credit card purchase goes through, Chase, Capital One and American Express agreements class it as a cash advance with a 5% fee, minimum $5 or $10. · 6 minCoinbase scams: how the impersonation calls work, and what Coinbase says it will never askMost Coinbase scams are impersonation: a caller or text posing as Coinbase support pushes the customer to move coins to a "safe" wallet. Coinbase's help centre lists what its staff never ask for. In May 2025 Coinbase disclosed that bribed support contractors had taken customer data, including government ID images, for under 1% of monthly transacting users, which gave scammers real details to quote. · 6 minCoinbase vs Gemini: licences, fees, custody and the Earn collapse, from the documentsBoth hold New York charters, but most US Gemini users now contract with Gemini Moonbase, LLC, which is not on the NYDFS list. Gemini's ActiveTrader fees start at 0.600% maker and 1.200% taker. Coinbase's record includes a $50 million NYDFS penalty and a 2025 insider data theft; Gemini's includes the Earn freeze of 340,000 investors. · 6 minCoinbase withdrawal time, fees and how to cash out, from the Coinbase Help CenterSelling crypto to a Coinbase cash balance is instant. Moving that cash to a bank takes 1 to 5 business days by ACH, about 30 minutes by instant cashout, or a same-day wire for $25, per the Coinbase Help Center on 14 October 2026. · 5 minDo you pay taxes on crypto before withdrawal? What the IRS says is taxable, and what Form 1099-DA reportsNo tax is due because crypto is withdrawn. The IRS taxes a sale, an exchange or another disposal; moving crypto between wallets you own is a non-taxable event, though a network fee paid in crypto counts as a disposal. Brokers report gross proceeds on Form 1099-DA for sales from 1 January 2025 and basis for certain sales from 1 January 2026. · 6 minGemini credit card review: the rewards, the 16.74% to 34.74% APR and what WebBank's agreement bansThe Gemini Credit Card is a WebBank-issued Mastercard paying 4% back on gas, EV and transit up to $300 a month, 3% on dining, 2% on groceries and 1% elsewhere, in crypto. No annual or foreign transaction fee; purchase APR 16.74% to 34.74%. The agreement bars buying crypto and gambling with it. · 6 minHow to buy bitcoin with Cash App: the steps, the 0% to 2% fee and the spread, from Cash App's help pagesTo buy bitcoin on Cash App, open the Bitcoin tile on the Money tab, tap Buy, pick an amount and a funding source and confirm. Cash App's fee runs from 2.0% on buys under $500 to 0% from $2,000, and a spread of up to 0.75% (or 1%, on a second help page) sits inside the price. · 6 minHow to buy bitcoin in the US: the steps, and the fees Coinbase, Kraken, Cash App, Robinhood and PayPal publishBuying bitcoin in the US means opening a verified account at a broker or exchange, funding it, placing a buy and, optionally, withdrawing to a wallet. Fees published on 14 October 2026 range from 0% to 2.20% of the trade at five US apps, and most add a spread on top. One bitcoin is 100,000,000 satoshis, so any dollar amount can be bought. · 6 minHow to buy Solana in the US: which exchanges list SOL, what they charge, and what moving it to a wallet costsCoinbase, Kraken, Robinhood, PayPal and Gemini each list SOL on their own pages, read on 14 October 2026; Cash App's crypto disclosures cover bitcoin and stablecoins, not SOL. Buy fees follow each platform's general crypto schedule. On-chain, Solana charges 5,000 lamports per signature, and the refundable rent-exempt minimum is being cut by up to 90% in five steps from September 2026. · 6 minHow to buy USDT, which exchanges list it, which network to pick and what it costsIn the US, Coinbase and Gemini list USDT and Robinhood shows it for market data only. Tether sells directly only to verified customers with a 100,000 USD minimum. In the EEA, Coinbase, Kraken and Binance have restricted or delisted it under MiCA. The network picked at withdrawal decides whether the tokens arrive. · 6 minHow do you sell bitcoin? Exchanges, broker apps, P2P and ATMs, with each provider's own feesBitcoin is sold through an exchange, a broker app, a peer-to-peer market or a bitcoin ATM. Stated fees on 14 October 2026 run from 0% plus a spread of up to 0.75% on a Cash App sale of $2,000 or more to 4.99% at a CoinFlip kiosk. Every sale is a capital gain or loss event for US tax. · 6 minHow to transfer bitcoin to Cash App: finding your address, on-chain vs Lightning, and the $10,000 weekly capTo transfer bitcoin to Cash App, open the Bitcoin tile, tap Deposit bitcoin and copy the address, which changes after every deposit. On-chain deposits are capped at $10,000 in any 7 days and Lightning at $999. Cash App takes BTC only. · 6 minHow to withdraw bitcoin from Cash App: speeds, fees, minimums and selling to dollarsCash App sends bitcoin to an outside wallet at three speeds. Standard is free, takes 24 hours or less and needs at least 0.001 BTC; Rush and Priority charge a network fee plus up to $2 or $3. Selling to dollars costs 0% to 2.0% plus a spread, and the cash-out to a bank is free or 0.5% to 2.5%. · 6 minIs bitcoin safe? The protocol, the custody risk and the scams, by the documentsBitcoin's protocol is secured by proof of work and has produced 971,395 blocks since January 2009. The money people lose goes through custody failures and scams: the FBI's IC3 recorded 181,565 crypto-related complaints and $11.366 billion in losses in 2025, about $7.2 billion of it investment fraud. · 6 minIs XRP a stablecoin? The GENIUS Act definition, Ripple's RLUSD and why bitcoin is not one eitherXRP is not a stablecoin. The GENIUS Act defines a payment stablecoin as one whose issuer must redeem it for a fixed amount of money; XRP and bitcoin have no such issuer and float on supply and demand. Ripple's dollar stablecoin is RLUSD, with $2,460.7 million circulating on 8 October 2026. · 6 minKraken vs Binance: who can use each, what they charge and what regulators settledBinance.com must keep a "complete exit from the United States" under its 2023 Treasury settlement; Americans use the separate Binance.US, unavailable in 16 states and regions. Kraken serves US residents except in Maine and New York. Binance's entry spot fee is 0.100%; Kraken Pro's is 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker. · 6 minPig butchering scam: how it works, what the FBI and FinCEN report, and the recovery trapPig butchering is a crypto investment scam in which a stranger builds trust over weeks, steers the victim to a fake trading platform, shows invented gains and then takes everything. FinCEN described it in alert FIN-2023-Alert005. The FBI's 2025 report records about $7.2 billion lost to crypto investment fraud. Paid "recovery" offers that follow are a second scam. · 6 minUSDC vs USDT, compared on issuer, reserves, audits, freezes and US lawUSDT is issued by Tether International, S.A. de C.V. in El Salvador and reports quarterly attestations; USDC is issued by Circle and reports monthly. Tether reported $184.6 billion of USDT at 30 June 2026, Circle $72.7 billion of USDC on 12 October 2026. Both can block addresses. · 6 minWhat is a bitcoin ETF? The SEC order, the spot funds, their fees and custodiansA spot bitcoin ETF is a trust whose shares trade on a stock exchange and which holds bitcoin with a custodian. The SEC approved 11 such listings on 10 January 2024 in Release No. 34-99306. Sponsor fees on issuers' own pages read on 14 October 2026 range from 0.15% to 0.25%. · 6 minWhat is Binance? The companies, the regulators, the 2023 US guilty plea and BNBBinance is a crypto exchange launched in July 2017 by Changpeng Zhao. Its terms, effective 21 July 2026, bind users to three Abu Dhabi Global Market companies. In 2023 Binance Holdings pleaded guilty to US anti-money laundering and sanctions charges and agreed to pay $4,316,126,163 to the DOJ. BNB is the native token of BNB Smart Chain. · 6 minWhat does it mean to stake crypto? Proof of stake, lockups, slashing, exchange terms and taxStaking crypto means locking coins in a proof-of-stake network so they back a validator, in return for rewards and at the risk of slashing. Solo Ethereum staking needs 32 ETH. Coinbase takes a 35% commission and Kraken 30% on flexible staking. The IRS taxes rewards as income when you gain control of them. · 5 minWhat is USDC on Coinbase? Circle's dollar token, Coinbase's rewards terms and redemptionUSDC on Coinbase is a dollar token issued by Circle that Coinbase lets customers buy, hold and convert at $1 for $1 with no conversion fee. Coinbase advertises up to 3.75% APY on USDC, which its help centre calls a loyalty program funded by Coinbase, open in the US to Coinbase One members only. · 6 minAB 831, California's sweepstakes casino ban, and what it does to operators, payment processors and affiliatesAB 831, Chapter 623 of 2025, added Penal Code section 337o. Since 1 January 2026 it is a misdemeanor to offer an online dual-currency sweepstakes game in California, and to knowingly support one as a payment processor, geolocation provider, content supplier, platform or media affiliate. Stake.us and Pulsz exclude California in their terms; Chumba and McLuck keep it for free-play only. · 6 minWhat DraftKings Predictions, Fanatics Markets, Robinhood and Underdog prediction markets are, and which exchange is behind eachEach of these apps is a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant that sends trades to a separate CFTC exchange, not a licensed sportsbook. On 13 October 2026 Fanatics Markets listed 22 states and 4 territories with a minimum age of 21, Robinhood required 18 and blocked sports contracts for Maryland, Nevada and Michigan residents, and FanDuel Predicts said it is available in all 50 states. · 7 minIs Kalshi safe? What the CFTC orders, the member agreement and the rulebook say about your moneyKalshi runs a CFTC-designated exchange (since 2020) and an affiliated CFTC-registered clearing house (since 2024), and says customer deposits sit in segregated accounts. None of its documents read on 13 October 2026 claim SIPC or FDIC cover, its terms let it revoke access at its sole discretion, and outcome rulings by its own committee are final. · 6 minIs Polymarket legal in the US? What the CFTC, the states and Polymarket's own terms sayPolymarket runs two products. QCX LLC d/b/a Polymarket US is a CFTC-designated contract market, designated on 9 July 2025, open to verified US adults. The international site, polymarket.com, is run by a Panama-law company whose terms bar US persons from trading. Nevada sued all three Polymarket entities in January 2026, Illinois and Missouri ordered Polymarket US to stop offering sports contracts, and New York sued it on 24 September 2026. · 7 minKalshi taxes and Polymarket taxes, and what the IRS rules say about prediction market winningsKalshi's help centre lists four forms it may issue, 1099-INT, 1099-MISC, 1099-B and 1099-DA, and none of them is described as reporting event contract profits. As of 13 October 2026 the IRS has published no guidance on how event contracts are taxed, and the Treasury's 2026-2027 guidance plan does not list the topic. · 6 minPolymarket fees and Kalshi fees explained, with the formulas and worked examplesKalshi and both Polymarket products price taker fees on the same curve, rate x contracts x price x (1 - price), so fees peak at 50 cents. On 100 contracts at 50 cents Kalshi charges $1.75, Polymarket's international exchange $0 to $1.75 by category and Polymarket US $1.74. · 7 minPolymarket vs Kalshi, compared on regulator, who can use them, money rails, fees, settlement and state lawsuitsKalshi and Polymarket US are both CFTC-designated contract markets that trade in dollars; polymarket.com is a separate crypto platform, not CFTC-regulated, that blocks US trading. Both US exchanges face the same state gambling fights, including a New York suit against Polymarket US filed on 24 September 2026. · 7 minPolymarket withdrawal time, how to withdraw from Polymarket, and how Kalshi comparesOn polymarket.com a withdrawal is an onchain transfer that Polymarket's developer docs describe as instant and free. The separate Polymarket US app quotes 3 to 4 business days for debit card and ACH, and Kalshi quotes a few hours for debit card, a few business days for bank and 30 minutes for crypto. · 8 minAre sweepstakes casinos gambling? The prize, chance and consideration test, the dual-currency model and the state bansSweepstakes casinos say free entry removes consideration, one of gambling's three elements. Six states disagree by statute: California, New Jersey, Montana and New York in 2025, Louisiana and Maine in 2026. Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Maryland and Connecticut have acted through lawsuits, letters or settlements. Most states have no specific law. · 8 minCan you deduct gambling losses on your taxes? Itemizing, the 90% rule from 2026 and the records crypto casinos keepUS players can deduct gambling losses only by itemizing on Schedule A, and only up to the winnings they report. From tax year 2026 the deduction is 90% of losses. The IRS requires a diary plus statements; of three crypto casino terms read, none promises a statement, and two make their own logs final. · 9 minHow are gambling winnings taxed in the US? The IRS text, the 2026 thresholds and the 90% loss ruleThe IRS treats gambling winnings as fully taxable income at ordinary rates, 10% to 37% for 2026. Form W-2G reporting for slots, bingo and keno now starts at $2,000. From tax year 2026, section 165(d) as amended in 2025 lets players deduct only 90% of losses, and only against winnings. · 6 minIs bingo gambling? What US state statutes, charitable bingo laws and the UK Gambling Act sayIn law, bingo played for money is gambling. Texas's statute calls it "a specific game of chance", Ohio exempts only bingo run by a licensed charitable organization, and New York's Constitution allows it only for qualifying non-profits. In Great Britain, online bingo needs a remote bingo operating licence from the Gambling Commission. · 7 minIs day trading gambling? What the SEC, FINRA, federal law and the published studies sayUnder US law day trading is not gambling: federal statutes carve securities trades out of gambling and bucket shop laws. Regulators still warn about it. The SEC says day traders "typically suffer severe financial losses", FINRA's required disclosure says "Day trading can be extremely risky", and a 2014 study found under 1% reliably profitable. · 7 minIs fantasy football gambling? What federal law, state regulators and the courts say about season-long and daily fantasyFederally, paid fantasy football is outside the UIGEA definition of a bet if prizes are fixed in advance, outcomes turn on skill across several real games, and no result rests on one team or one athlete. States decide the rest: Nevada and Texas's Attorney General call daily fantasy gambling, while New York licenses it. · 8 minIs Kalshi gambling? What the CFTC, the federal courts and the state regulators say about prediction marketsFederally, Kalshi is a CFTC-designated contract market, not a sportsbook. Several states say its sports contracts are unlicensed gambling. As of 9 October 2026 the Third Circuit sided with Kalshi in New Jersey, the Ninth and Sixth Circuits sided with Nevada, Ohio and Tennessee, and New Jersey has asked the Supreme Court to decide. · 6 minIs options trading gambling? What federal law, the OCC disclosure document, FINRA's rules and the loss data sayUnder US law options trading is not gambling: 15 U.S.C. 78bb(a)(3) bars state wagering and bucket shop laws from invalidating any "put, call, straddle, option". The rules still treat it as high risk: brokers must hand over the OCC risk document and approve each options account. India's SEBI found 87.7% of individual options traders lost money in FY26. · 7 minIs PrizePicks gambling? What state regulators, attorneys general and settlements say about pick'em fantasyIt depends on the state. California's Attorney General concluded in July 2025 that daily fantasy, pick'em included, is sports wagering under Penal Code 337a. New York's Gaming Commission settled with PrizePicks for $14,969,688 in 2024 and lists it as a permitted fantasy operator. Maryland bars contests based on a single athlete's performance. · 6 minIs Stake.us legal in my state? What the terms, statutes and court filings sayClause 2.1 of the Stake.us terms excludes 22 states, including California, New York, Connecticut and Montana, which have passed sweepstakes bans. Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Minnesota are not excluded, and each has a lawsuit or appeal against the operator on file.