Polymarket works in most of the world, but not everywhere. As of November 2026, polymarket.com fully blocks seven sanctioned territories and puts 36 countries plus four Canadian provinces in close-only mode. On top of that list, more than a dozen governments block the site at internet provider level. Americans use a separate, CFTC-regulated app called Polymarket US.
That is the short answer. The long answer matters, because the three layers above work differently and the list changes every few months. I trade on Polymarket from Mexico, which sits on no list at all. My Dutch passport does not change that. Access follows where you physically are, not where you were born.
This page is the one we keep updated. Bookmark it and check back before you deposit.
How Polymarket Restrictions Actually Work
Three separate systems decide whether you can trade. Confusing them is why half the answers online contradict each other.
The first is Polymarket’s own geoblock. The platform checks your IP and applies one of two statuses: blocked or close-only. This list lives in Polymarket’s developer documentation and applies to the website and the API.
The second is government enforcement. Gambling regulators in France, Spain, India and others order internet providers to block polymarket.com. Some of those countries do not even appear on Polymarket’s list. Spain is the clearest example, which we covered when the Spanish ban landed in May.
The third is the United States, which has its own product. The global site treats the US as close-only, while Polymarket US runs under federal derivatives rules with full KYC.
Keep those three apart and every country below makes sense.
The Official Polymarket Restricted Countries List
This comes straight from Polymarket’s geographic restrictions documentation. Polymarket defines “blocked” as no new orders and no closing of existing positions. “Close-only” means you can exit what you hold but cannot open anything new.
Fully Blocked
Seven jurisdictions, all tied to sanctions: Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. The rest of Ukraine is not on Polymarket’s list, though the Ukrainian government blocks the site itself.
Close-Only (Website and API)
Thirty-six countries plus four Canadian provinces. In Europe: Belarus, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. For the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, the United States, its Minor Outlying Islands, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. In Asia-Pacific: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. In the Middle East and Africa: Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo (Kinshasa), Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Close-Only on the Website Only
Five entries sit in a narrower tier: Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Malta for sports markets only. Polymarket’s docs state the website is close-only for these while the API itself is not restricted. In practice, that means the normal app does not let you open trades there.
Count carefully and you get 7 blocked, 36 close-only, 4 provinces and 5 website-only entries. Other sites quote 33, 39 or 41 because they mix tiers or work from older snapshots.
Countries Where the Government Blocks Polymarket
This is the layer that catches people out. Your country may be missing from Polymarket’s list, yet the site still refuses to load. That is your internet provider following a regulator’s order. Here is who has acted, in order.
Europe
Switzerland was first. Gespa, the gambling supervisor, put polymarket.com on its blocklist on November 26, 2024, and added four copycat Swiss domains in August 2026. France banned financial transactions to the site in November 2024, then ordered a full ISP block on July 16, 2026 after 578,751 French visits in a single month. Belgium blacklisted the platform after it ignored three warnings. Italy’s ADM blacklisted Polymarket in October 2025, partly restored access, then blocked it again on July 27, 2026.
Portugal’s SRIJ ordered Polymarket out within 48 hours in January 2026, after more than €103 million traded on its presidential election. Hungary followed with an ISP block on January 16, 2026. The Dutch Kansspelautoriteit ordered a halt in February 2026 under threat of €420,000 weekly fines, and moved to collect in May. Spain’s DGOJ opened proceedings and ordered ISP blocks on May 26, 2026. The Czech Ministry of Finance classified Polymarket as unauthorized gambling and ordered a block in 2026, and Denmark included it among 98 gambling sites blocked after a court ruling.
Americas
Argentina became the first in Latin America. A Buenos Aires court ruled Polymarket an unlicensed gambling service on March 16, 2026, ordered ISPs to cut access and told Apple and Google to pull the app. Brazil’s National Monetary Council went wider in April 2026, prohibiting event-outcome derivatives and shutting out Polymarket alongside 26 other prediction platforms ahead of its October election.
Asia
India blocked Polymarket under Section 69A of its IT Act once the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act took effect on May 1, 2026, and later had the platform’s X account withheld. Indonesia blocked the site on May 22, 2026 as online gambling. South Korea ordered internet providers to cut access in mid-2026, citing its Criminal Act and National Sports Promotion Act. Ukraine blocked it earlier in the year as part of a wider betting crackdown.
Is Polymarket Legal in the US?
Yes, through a separate product. The global polymarket.com has been off limits to Americans since the 2022 CFTC settlement, and it remains close-only for US IPs today. What changed is Polymarket US.
Polymarket bought QCEX, a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse, for $112 million in July 2025. The CFTC issued a no-action letter in September 2025 and an amended order of designation on November 24, 2025. Polymarket US launched on December 3, 2025 as a Designated Contract Market, the same regulatory tier as the CME. The waitlist was lifted by mid-2026, and the app now runs on iOS, Android and web with full KYC. On November 3, 2026, a Polymarket unit also won self-regulatory approval to operate as a futures broker.
Federal approval has not settled the states. Tennessee and Illinois issued cease-and-desist letters in January 2026. Massachusetts ordered platforms to block residents, Nevada sued over sports contracts, and New York filed suit seeking to shut the platform down. Minnesota passed an outright ban effective August 1, 2026, which the CFTC is fighting in court. Ohio’s casino regulator sent letters to ten platforms on October 2, and Polymarket US sued the state two weeks later. On October 28, 2026, Polymarket US agreed to stop offering sports contracts in Michigan and close remaining positions by November 25.
So the honest US answer is: legal federally, contested state by state, and sports markets are the battleground. Our Polymarket vs Kalshi comparison covers how the two regulated venues differ for American traders, and the Kalshi review goes deeper on the alternative. Whether the Clarity Act ever passes will shape how much room the states keep.
Where Polymarket Is Available Right Now
Everywhere not named above. That still covers most of the planet.
Mexico is my home base and sits on neither list, which is why my farming volume runs from here. The same goes for Colombia, Chile, Peru and most of Latin America outside Argentina and Brazil. In Europe, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Greece, Romania and Turkey are clear on both counts. Across the Middle East and Africa: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. In Asia: Hong Kong, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Two warnings on that list. First, “not restricted” is not the same as “regulated”. None of these countries has licensed Polymarket; they simply have not acted against it. Second, the list shrinks every few months. Six European regulators, Gespa among them, issued a joint statement in June 2026 warning that prediction markets must follow local licensing rules. Expect more names to move.
If you are in a clear country and want to start, sign up with our Polymarket link. It costs you nothing and supports the site. For what I actually do there, our guide to farming the POLY airdrop delta neutral is the place to start.
Close-Only Mode and the VPN Question
Close-only is the status most people hit. Your open positions stay yours. You can sell them, or hold them to resolution and redeem. What you cannot do is place a new order. Polymarket moved every non-sanctioned country from full block to close-only during 2026 precisely so nobody’s funds got frozen.
Fully blocked is different. Polymarket’s docs say no closing either, and they say nothing about what happens to funds in those seven territories.
Now the question everyone asks: can you just use a VPN? You can try. You should not. Section 2.1.4 of Polymarket’s terms prohibits VPNs, proxies or any tool that hides your location. Since May 2026 the platform blocks known VPN ranges, suspends suspicious accounts without notice and pushes active traders into KYC. A US House oversight letter that same month demanded its geoblocking records, so the pressure is coming from above too. Account suspension with funds held pending review is the documented outcome. The third-party breach that halted trading earlier this year already showed how exposed a frozen account can be.
Travelers are the exception. Rights follow physical location, so trading while you are in a clear country is within the rules. Flying home to a restricted one and continuing is not.
Why the List Keeps Growing
Every regulator that acted used the same word: gambling. Polymarket calls its contracts derivatives, and the US CFTC agrees. Gambling authorities in Europe, India and Latin America do not. They see yes-or-no bets on elections and football without a license, age checks or self-exclusion tools. We wrote about that split in prediction markets: gambling or the next evolution of finance long before the bans started.
Money makes it worse. Portugal acted after €103 million traded on one election. Brazil’s licensed sportsbooks lobbied for their ban. France counted visits. A platform valued above $20 billion with a pre-IPO perp you can trade on Bybit is a target regulators cannot ignore.
Then there was the CFTC investigation into Polymarket’s marketing, which I wrote up from the World Cup while stacking volume. Noise like that rarely kills a platform, but it gives other countries cover to act.
Keep This Content Free
Pages like this one take a full day of checking regulator notices and docs, and they earn nothing unless you use our links. Sign up through them and the site keeps running at no cost to you.
Claim your OKX welcome rewards
Every confirmed campaign in this category, Polymarket’s included, sits on our prediction market airdrops hub.
Final Words
Can you use Polymarket in your country? For most readers, yes. For Americans, yes through Polymarket US, with state fights ongoing. Anyone in Western Europe, India, Brazil or Argentina, no, and a VPN is a worse idea every month.
I have traded on Polymarket since before the bans started, and I have watched the map fill in. The platform keeps growing anyway. Volume keeps climbing, the POLY airdrop still has no snapshot date, and the regulated US product is pulling in traders who could never touch the global site. Restrictions change where the volume comes from, not whether it comes.
We update this page whenever a regulator moves. Our prediction markets tag has every Polymarket story as it lands, and our running answer on whether Hyperliquid is legal in the US is the sibling page for the other platform that gets this question.
FAQ
Is Polymarket legal in my country?
Check three things. Polymarket’s own list blocks 7 sanctioned territories and makes 36 countries close-only. Separately, governments in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Ukraine block the site. If your country is on neither list, you can trade.
Which countries are banned from Polymarket?
Fully blocked: Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea and three Ukrainian regions. Close-only includes the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and four Canadian provinces.
Can I use Polymarket in the US?
Yes, through Polymarket US, a CFTC-regulated exchange launched in December 2025 with full KYC. The global polymarket.com stays close-only for US users. Several states contest sports contracts, and Michigan residents lose those on November 25, 2026.
What does close-only mean on Polymarket?
You can sell or redeem positions you already hold but cannot open new ones. Your funds are not frozen.
Can I use a VPN for Polymarket?
It breaks Section 2.1.4 of Polymarket’s terms. Since May 2026 the platform blocks VPN ranges, suspends accounts and can hold funds pending review. Trading while physically in a clear country is allowed; faking your location is not.
Is Polymarket legal in Europe?
It depends on the country. France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Poland and Slovakia are close-only, and several more governments block the site. Austria, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Romania and Turkey are currently clear.
Is Polymarket available in Mexico?
Yes. Mexico is on no restriction list, from Polymarket or its own regulators, as of November 2026.
Credit: Source link
