Can someone explain to me how this is? It's a company HQ'd in New York, but it's not allowed to do business in the very country it's HQ'd in? What am I missing?
You're not missing anything — that's exactly how it is. There's nothing that stipulates that US companies must sell to other US companies, and it's a great place for investments & startups, so even if Polymarket isn't licensed to operate in the US it still makes sense for them to be there.
> and it's a great place for investments & startups, so even if Polymarket isn't licensed to operate in the US it still makes sense for them to be there.
Well, maybe for startups in general, but it apparently didn't work out for Polymarket. Also, it's probably a better case if you're just not targeting US customers, rather than being actually forbidden from trading with US customers.
As I understand it (very much not a lawyer), the company complies with US laws by not allowing people in the US to use it, so there’s no issue doing business.
States like money. If you're complying with local laws and regulations then why wouldn't they want the tax revenue?
Fireworks are illegal in NY and have been illegal in PA for much of the past two decades. Despite this, the border is crawling with fireworks stores. PA made it illegal to sell fireworks to PA residents, but totally legal to sell to residents of neighboring states provided they immediately transport them over state lines.
It was like this for fireworks in the past too. Used to go to Pennsylvania where it used to be illegal for PA residents to purchase them, they'd check your drivers license when you came in to validate it was from elsewhere and issue a 24hr transport permit to get it out of the state. Naturally the fireworks shops were mostly near state borders.
