Which Countries Does Polymarket Restrict?

Polymarket publishes its geographic restrictions in its official geoblocking documentation, which sorts every blocked jurisdiction into one of three enforcement tiers. A country's tier determines whether residents can still exit their existing positions.

Here is how the three tiers work in practice:

• Full block: Applies to jurisdictions under comprehensive OFAC sanctions. No new orders, no closing of open positions, and the block covers both the website and the trading API. Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and the occupied Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk fall here.
• Close-only on frontend and API: Users can exit existing positions but cannot open new ones through any access point. The largest tier, it covers over 30 countries from France and Germany to Australia, Brazil, and Singapore.
• Close-only on frontend: The website blocks new trades while the API remains open, a lighter touch applied to Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, and Malta, where the Maltese restriction covers sports markets only.

Polymarket Restricted Countries List

The table below groups every restricted jurisdiction by region and enforcement tier:

The list has grown since the start of the year. Polymarket's current geoblock records show Brazil and Slovakia as new close-only entries, Canada's restriction widened from Ontario alone to four provinces covering most of the country's population, and Japan, Ireland, and the Netherlands sit on the lighter frontend tier for the first time.

Some governments enforce their own blocks on top of Polymarket's list. Portugal's gambling regulator SRIJ ordered the platform out within 48 hours in January 2026 after more than €103 million traded on the country's presidential election, and the Dutch Kansspelautoriteit ordered Polymarket to block Dutch users under threat of €420,000 weekly fines before the Netherlands appeared on the geoblock list.

Why the Restricted List Keeps Growing

National gaming authorities across Europe, Latin America, and Asia have concluded that event contracts are wagers requiring a domestic licence that Polymarket does not hold, and their enforcement actions now drive most additions to the list.

These are the main forces adding countries to the list:

• Sanctions compliance: As a company with a US-regulated subsidiary and American institutional shareholders, Polymarket must enforce OFAC prohibitions absolutely, which is why sanctioned territories receive the only full blocks on the platform.
• Gambling classification: France's ANJ, Belgium's Gaming Commission, and the Netherlands' Kansspelautoriteit all treat prediction markets as unlicensed betting. Belgium keeps Polymarket on its official blacklist, and France triggered one of the earliest nationwide geoblocks back in early 2025.
• Protection of licensed betting markets: Brazil's National Monetary Council blocked Polymarket in April 2026 alongside 26 other prediction sites after the country's licensed sportsbook industry lobbied regulators, closing the market ahead of the October presidential election.
• Election and integrity concerns: Several regulators objected specifically to wagering on political outcomes, and Singapore's Gambling Regulatory Authority included Polymarket in its broader crackdown on offshore betting sites.
• Interactive gambling bans: Australia's Interactive Gambling Act prohibits unlicensed online wagering, placing the platform in close-only mode for Australian residents.

The close-only mechanism itself has become Polymarket's standard compliance response. Rather than freezing funds when a regulator acts, the platform lets affected users hold positions to resolution or sell out, then withdraw, limiting the damage of sudden enforcement to existing customers.

Polymarket Supported Countries

Outside the restricted list, Polymarket remains open across 100+ countries spanning South America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Europe. Argentina, Mexico, India, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the Nordic countries all retain full access to the global platform, and no licence or identity check stands between a user and their first trade.

Access runs through a self-custodial wallet with USDC on Polygon as the settlement asset. Users can fund accounts by transferring USDC directly, bridging from Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, or Solana through the built-in deposit tool, or buying with a card through MoonPay where local rules permit. For larger transfers, dedicated crypto bridges reduce slippage compared with the native deposit path.

Trading activity in supported regions has scaled sharply. Monthly volume peaked at $10.57 billion in March 2026, roughly six times the level from six months earlier. The 2026 World Cup, US politics, and crypto price markets drove the heaviest turnover through mid-year.

Can I Use Polymarket in the USA?

Yes, through a separate regulated exchange rather than the global crypto platform. Polymarket relaunched in the United States in late 2025 after acquiring the CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange QCEX, and the CFTC granted an Amended Order of Designation that lets the company operate as a designated contract market under federal oversight.

An invite-only app appeared in December 2025, and the waitlist, which drew more than 1.4 million sign-ups, opened fully to iOS users in May 2026. Trades clear through registered futures commission merchants instead of a connected wallet, fees run at 10 basis points for takers with zero maker fees, and in March 2026 Major League Baseball named Polymarket its exclusive prediction market partner while signing an information-sharing agreement with the CFTC.

Federal approval has not settled the state-level fight. Nevada secured a temporary restraining order against the platform in early 2026, Polymarket sued Massachusetts to assert exclusive federal jurisdiction over event contracts, and the CFTC itself sued Connecticut, Arizona, and Illinois in April 2026 to defend federal preemption. Availability can therefore differ by state while the courts decide who regulates the category.

Polymarket Licences and Regulation

Polymarket's regulatory position splits between its two platforms. The US exchange holds full federal authorisation, while the global platform runs unlicensed, which is what national gambling regulators keep objecting to.

The current regulatory picture by jurisdiction:

• United States (CFTC): QCX LLC, acquired in July 2025, holds designated contract market and clearing licences, and the November 2025 Amended Order of Designation authorised the retail relaunch. The arrangement followed a 2022 settlement in which Polymarket paid a $1.4 million penalty for operating an unregistered facility.
• Brazil (CMN): The National Monetary Council resolution of April 2026 prohibits derivatives tied to sporting, election, and similar event outcomes, formally shutting the market to offshore prediction platforms.
• Netherlands (KSA): The gambling authority ordered Polymarket to halt Dutch operations in February 2026 under the Remote Gambling Act, and upheld its sanction on appeal with recurring financial penalties for non-compliance.
• Belgium (Gaming Commission): The platform sits on the official blacklist for violations of the Gambling Act, one of the longest-standing European enforcement actions against it.
• France (ANJ): The national gaming authority pushed Polymarket to geoblock French residents for offering unlicensed gambling, a template other European regulators followed.
• Singapore (GRA): Access restrictions stem from the Gambling Regulatory Authority's campaign against offshore betting websites, with criminal penalties available against users who circumvent them.

Congress has also turned its attention to market integrity. The proposed Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act targets insider trading on event contracts, introduced after suspicious trades preceded publicly unknown government actions, and bills seeking to ban sports event contracts on CFTC platforms were filed in March 2026 without advancing.

Does Polymarket Require KYC?

The global platform does not require identity verification for standard use. Anyone in a supported country connects a wallet or signs up with an email, deposits USDC, and trades. Compliance rests on geoblocking rather than onboarding checks. High-volume API traders who want co-location access complete a separate KYC and business verification process.

Every US account must clear full verification before trading.

US onboarding requires each of the following:

• Government photo ID: A driver's licence or passport confirming identity and legal age, matched against a liveness check during sign-up.
• Social Security number: Collected for tax reporting and federal surveillance obligations that apply to all regulated derivatives venues.
• Proof of state eligibility: Residency information determines access, since court orders and state enforcement actions can carve individual states out of the service area.
• Intermediated funding: Deposits move through registered futures commission merchants rather than direct wallet connections, keeping capital inside regulated channels.

About Polymarket

Polymarket launched in June 2020, founded by Shayne Coplan, and built its reputation during the 2024 US presidential race, when more than $3.3 billion traded on the outcome and the platform's odds moved ahead of traditional polling.

Institutional money followed. Intercontinental Exchange, parent of the New York Stock Exchange, committed up to $2 billion beginning in October 2025 and completed a further $600 million investment in March 2026, and reports placed the valuation near $15 billion as the company courted additional investors. ICE also distributes Polymarket's event data to institutional clients as a sentiment feed.

After operating fee-free for years, Polymarket introduced taker fees across crypto, sports, and other high-velocity categories through early 2026, and independent estimates put annualised revenue around $1 billion by mid-year. A filing for parlay-style combinatorial sports contracts in May 2026 signalled where the product roadmap heads next.

Best Alternative if Polymarket Is Restricted in Your Country

Kalshi is the strongest alternative for most restricted users, and it is now the larger platform by volume. The CFTC-regulated exchange posted $17.91 billion in notional volume in May 2026, raised capital at a $22 billion valuation, and supplies live prediction data to CNBC and CNN.

Kalshi supports fiat deposits through cards and bank transfers alongside crypto funding, which suits users who prefer to avoid wallet-based platforms. It faces the same state-level legal battles as Polymarket inside the US, so availability by state carries similar caveats, and our Polymarket vs Kalshi comparison breaks down fees, markets, and access in detail. For a wider view of onchain options, see our guide to the best decentralized prediction markets.

Final Thoughts

Gaming regulators added nearly every name that joined Polymarket's restriction map this year, and Brazil, the Netherlands, Portugal, and four Canadian provinces arrived within months of each other on gambling-law grounds.

The United States moved the other way, going from Polymarket's most famous restriction to its only fully regulated market, even as the global platform keeps US residents in close-only mode and state courts contest the CFTC's authority.

Anyone checking access from a specific country should treat the official geoblocking documentation as the definitive record. Tiers change quickly, and a close-only listing still leaves room to exit positions before rules tighten.