Polymarket Restricted Countries List and Close-Only Rules

Polymarket restricts 41 countries and seven regions, but most users there can still exit trades. Its geoblock page fully blocks four sanctioned countries and three Ukrainian regions.

The other 37 countries and four Canadian provinces are "close-only". You can close positions there but not open new ones.

Governments keep a separate list. About 30 regulators have blocked, blacklisted or warned against the platform since 2024, and around 15 of those countries are missing from Polymarket's geoblock page, Spain, Switzerland and India among them.

This guide to Polymarket restricted countries covers both lists, close-only mode, US access, KYC and VPN rules and the best alternatives if Polymarket is closed to you.

Which Countries Does Polymarket Restrict?

Polymarket's developer documentation splits restricted jurisdictions into three tiers, and we checked them against the live page on 27 October 2026. Your tier decides whether you can still close a position and whether the limit applies only on the website.

Comprehensive US sanctions administered by OFAC define the full block. Anyone in those territories can neither open nor close trades.

Both close-only tiers carry the label "regulatory restrictions". In practice the list blends two groups. Some regulators, as in France and Belgium, class prediction markets as gambling, while Russia, Venezuela and Myanmar sit under US, UK or EU sanctions programmes.

The Terms of Use, effective 11 August 2026, incorporate the geoblock page by reference. Their headline list goes further and names Hungary and Slovenia, two countries the geoblock page leaves out. Adventure One QSS Inc. runs the international site under Panamanian law, using software licensed from Blockratize Inc.

Under the terms, residence, location and citizenship can each make you a restricted person. Polymarket's help centre ties access to where you are physically located instead. The two official sources therefore disagree on whether citizenship alone disqualifies you.

What Close-Only Mode Means for Your Funds

In close-only mode you can close positions you already hold, but you cannot open new ones. Polymarket checks the IP address behind each order through its geoblock endpoint and rejects orders from restricted locations.

Funds sit in a Polygon smart contract wallet that you control, outside any company account. Trades settle in pUSD, a token backed 1:1 by USDC that replaced bridged USDC.e as collateral in 2026.

On withdrawals, Polymarket has published one explicit example. Users in Germany, its help centre says, must hold existing positions until the market resolves, after which "funds can be withdrawn without restrictions". There is no general rule, and fully blocked users' funds go unmentioned.

The website-only tier is the narrowest. Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea cannot trade on polymarket.com, while Malta loses sports markets only. All five are still restricted under the terms, so weaker API enforcement does not make trading there permitted.

How Has Polymarket's Restricted List Changed?

Expect the list to keep growing. No archived version of the terms or the geoblock page has ever removed a country, and 2026 brought the fastest expansion.

America was first. In January 2022 the CFTC fined Polymarket $1.4 million for offering event-based binary options without registration and ordered it to wind down non-compliant markets.

The July 2026 restructure softened the impact for many users. Every non-sanctioned country that had been fully blocked moved to close-only, so people there could exit positions instead of having them frozen.

The terms grew in step. A revision dated 19 February 2026 added the Netherlands. The current version of 11 August 2026 then added Germany, Italy, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Ireland, New Zealand, Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec, which takes the headline list to 22 jurisdictions.

Which Governments Have Blocked Polymarket?

Your government can block Polymarket even when Polymarket accepts you. Almost every regulator that has acted classes prediction markets as unlicensed gambling.

France has gone furthest. Polymarket stopped taking bets from French users in November 2024, once the ANJ had opened an inquiry. Then in July 2026 the regulator ordered internet providers to block the whole site. It cited 578,751 French visits in June 2026 and the lack of identity checks.

The most detailed ruling came from the Netherlands. Polymarket had argued that its users trade with each other on informed views. The Kansspelautoriteit decision rejected that, finding that payouts depend on an uncertain external event. Spain's ministry reached a similar view and said prediction markets have the nature of games of chance.

Many blocks followed an election. Taiwan prosecuted bettors over its 2024 presidential vote. Portugal acted after more than €4 million was staked in the hours before first-round results, and Hungary moved ahead of its April 2026 parliamentary election.

European regulators increasingly act as a group. On 17 June 2026, nine of them, from Belgium to Switzerland, issued a joint statement saying prediction markets need a gambling licence. ESMA followed on 3 July 2026 and reminded firms that event contracts which are financial instruments fall under the retail binary options bans in force since 2019.

A few countries stopped short of a block. Germany's gambling authority has issued warnings only, and Thailand's police proposed a ban in January 2025. Norway sent a notice of intended blocking in September 2026, with no final decision yet. Italy is the only country to have partly lifted a block, and it reimposed it seven months later.

Can You Use Polymarket in the United States?

Not on polymarket.com. US visitors get a view-only mode and a pointer to Polymarket US, a separate CFTC-regulated exchange with full identity checks.

Polymarket returned to the US by buying QCEX, a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearing house, for $112 million in July 2025, Axios reported. By then the Justice Department and CFTC had closed the investigations that began with an FBI search of chief executive Shayne Coplan's home in November 2024.

CFTC staff granted the exchange no-action relief on 2 September 2025. According to Polymarket, the CFTC approved an amended order of designation on 25 November 2025 that allows brokers to connect. The app opened to waitlisted users in December 2025, starting with sports markets.

Two entities sit behind Polymarket US, the designated contract market QCX LLC and its clearing house, QC Clearing LLC. The sign-up process asks for your legal name, address, date of birth and Social Security number. Some users must also upload ID and a selfie, and deposits are in US dollars.

Only Nevada has a court order in force against Polymarket US. A state judge granted the Nevada Gaming Control Board a preliminary injunction on 29 May 2026. Polymarket publishes no other list of excluded states.

At the heart of the dispute is classification. States see sports contracts as unlicensed sports betting, and Polymarket says federal commodities law gives the CFTC exclusive control. New York's attorney general sued on 24 September 2026. Polymarket has filed its own suits against Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Ohio.

The appeals courts disagree. The Third Circuit backed Kalshi, but the Ninth and Sixth Circuits sided with the states in August and September 2026. New Jersey's petition in Flaherty v. KalshiEX is now before the Supreme Court, and Coinperps' Kalshi restricted countries guide tracks the same fight.

Which Polymarket Products Have Their Own Country Rules?

Access rules differ by product, on top of the main geoblock. Check the product as well as the country before you deposit.

Polymarket Perps lists leveraged contracts on indices, commodities, crypto and equities. When CNBC reported the launch in April 2026, leverage went up to 20x. Its own restricted list names the US, Canada and the seven sanctioned territories and warns that "additional restrictions may apply". Residents of every country on the main list remain barred by the terms.

Canada is where the products diverge most. Prediction markets are geoblocked only in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, whereas Perps shuts out the whole country.

Costs depend on the market category. Polymarket introduced taker fees on 15-minute crypto markets from 5 January 2026 and extended them to almost every category on 30 March 2026. Geopolitics markets are still fee-free, and makers pay nothing. Coinperps explains how the two sides are charged in maker vs taker fees in crypto.

If you want leverage outside Polymarket, compare venue fees and country access in the perpetual exchanges directory.

Does Polymarket Require KYC, and Can You Use a VPN?

You can sign up on Polymarket's international site without verifying your identity. Google, an email code or a crypto wallet is enough, though the terms ban VPNs and let Polymarket demand ID at any time.

Section 4.3 of the terms lets Polymarket ask for information to confirm your eligibility. Its self-certification prompt requests a passport or driving licence plus proof of residence in a non-restricted jurisdiction. Users who fail to respond within 14 days are moved to close-only mode.

VPNs or "any similar tool" used to get around the geoblock are banned outright, and the stated penalty is close-only mode for the wallet. Each trade also asks users to confirm they are not a US person or using a VPN.

Enforcement tightened in 2026. In May, Gizmodo reported, citing The Information, that Polymarket was blocking known VPN addresses and asking some large traders for ID. The company has not published that policy, and no mass account freezes have been confirmed.

Regulators have noticed the gap too. France's ISP block was a response to how easily its geoblock could be bypassed. In May 2026 the US House Oversight Committee asked Polymarket for records on KYC and access controls going back to January 2024.

Insider trading raised the pressure further. Polymarket adopted market integrity rules on 23 March 2026. A month later, US prosecutors charged a soldier accused of using classified information to bet on the removal of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro.

Account security is a separate risk. In June 2026 a frontend attack through a third-party vendor drained about $3.1 million from users, and Polymarket pledged full refunds.

Where Can You Still Use Polymarket?

No official list of supported countries exists. A country missing from both the geoblock page and the terms is open on paper, yet local gambling law can still make using Polymarket unlawful.

Polymarket's list leaves out large parts of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Several governments there have acted on their own.

Look at Spain and Portugal. Neither appears on the geoblock page, yet both have ordered internet providers to block the site, so trading from either country breaks local law.

The United Kingdom falls in the third group. Its Gambling Commission has taken no published action, but Polymarket geoblocks the country anyway. The FCA's ban on selling crypto derivatives to retail consumers has also applied since January 2021.

Check two sources before you deposit, the live geoblock page and your local gambling regulator. Polymarket's geoblock endpoint returns a blocked verdict for restricted locations.

Best Polymarket Alternatives by Region

Choose a platform licensed where you live. Across most of Europe, no licensed retail prediction market exists.

• United States: Outside Nevada, Polymarket US is the direct substitute. Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated exchange, and Coinbase has offered Kalshi markets in all 50 states since January 2026. Leveraged crypto is covered in Coinperps' Kalshi perpetuals review and Coinbase perpetuals restricted countries guide.
• Canada: Wealthsimple has announced a CIRO-approved prediction markets app without sports or election contracts. For derivatives, see the best crypto futures platforms in Canada.
• European Union: ESMA's statement leaves no licensed retail venue for event contracts. Most traders use MiCA-licensed exchanges for spot, and the best crypto futures platforms in Europe guide covers regulated leverage.
• United Kingdom: Prediction products fall under gambling law. Licensed bookmakers and FCA-registered spot exchanges such as Kraken are the lawful options.
• Brazil: Since the April 2026 block, Brazil's National Monetary Council has allowed event derivatives only on economic and financial outcomes. Sports and election markets are closed to residents.
• Sanctioned territories: Residents of Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria and occupied Ukraine have no lawful option, because every regulated platform blocks them.

Unlicensed crypto prediction markets carry the same legal risk. Regulators in France, Belgium, Poland, Italy and Spain treat any of them as illegal gambling.

Crypto traders looking for leverage can compare Hyperliquid's country rules and the venues in the top decentralised perpetual exchanges list.

Bottom Line

Only seven sanctioned territories are fully blocked from Polymarket. Another 37 countries and four Canadian provinces are close-only, where users can exit trades but not open new ones, and the list has grown with every revision since 2025.

Government blocks matter just as much. About 30 regulators have acted, mostly by treating prediction markets as gambling, and Spain, Portugal and Switzerland block the site even though Polymarket accepts their users. US residents need Polymarket US, which requires full KYC and remains under court order in Nevada.