Is Polymarket Legal? Restricted Countries, US Status and Bot Rules (October 2026)

"Is Polymarket legal?" has no single answer. It depends on where you are, which Polymarket you mean, and what your local law says. This guide sets out the facts as of October 8, 2026, using Polymarket's own published lists and public regulatory records. It's not legal advice. If your situation is unclear, ask a lawyer where you live.

Two Polymarkets

Since 2025 there have been two separate exchanges:

1. Polymarket (international), polymarket.com. The original crypto-based exchange. You trade from a self-custody wallet with pUSD on Polygon, and markets resolve through the UMA oracle. It is not available to people in the United States or in a list of other restricted jurisdictions.
2. Polymarket US. A CFTC-regulated exchange (formerly QCX, acquired in 2025) with a mobile app, identity checks and dollar balances. It's for eligible US residents.

When people ask whether Polymarket is legal, they usually mean the international site. Everything below about country lists refers to that exchange unless stated otherwise.

Where Polymarket international is restricted

Polymarket publishes its restrictions in two places: the developer docs (Geographic Restrictions) and the Help Center (Geographic Restrictions, updated August 14, 2026). Both say restrictions exist "due to regulatory requirements and compliance with international sanctions." The two lists are organised slightly differently, which we cover below.

Fully blocked (sanctions)

The developer docs list these as blocked completely on the website and API. No new orders, and existing positions can't be closed:

Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

Close-only on website and API

Users can close existing positions but can't open new ones:

Region	Jurisdictions
Americas	United States, US Minor Outlying Islands, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela; Canada: Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta
Europe	United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Belarus, Russia
Asia-Pacific	Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Myanmar
Middle East & Africa	Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Burundi, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Zimbabwe

The extra group, and why the lists differ

The developer docs list a further group as close-only on the Polymarket website: Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Malta (sports only). The Help Center's list of 39 "completely restricted" countries includes Ireland, Japan, Malta and the Netherlands outright. In other words, Polymarket's own sources disagree on the details, and the conservative reading is that these countries are restricted too.

Some country notes from the Help Center:

• Ontario: users can view market data but can't deposit or trade, including through the iOS app.
• Germany: trading is prohibited. Existing positions must be held to resolution, after which funds can be withdrawn.
• Singapore, Poland, Thailand, Taiwan: close-only.

Location, not citizenship

Polymarket says permissions are "based on physical location rather than residency." A user from an allowed country who travels to a restricted one can't trade there, and someone from a restricted country travelling in an allowed one can. Local law where you live may still apply to you, including tax law.

VPNs

Polymarket "strictly prohibits the use of VPNs or similar tools to bypass geographic restrictions" and treats it as a breach of its Terms of Service (Section 2.1.4), with penalties that can include account restrictions (Help Center). Using a VPN can also break local law, and it puts your funds at risk if your account is restricted. Don't do it, and be wary of any tool that offers to do it for you.

How the block is enforced

Polymarket's public endpoint GET https://polymarket.com/api/geoblock returns whether the calling IP is blocked, plus its country and region. Orders from blocked regions are rejected by the API (docs). Legitimate bots and apps call it before trading and stop if it returns blocked: true.

The United States: what changed

The US story explains most of the confusion online. In order:

1. January 2022: CFTC settlement. The CFTC ordered Blockratize Inc. (Polymarket) to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty for offering event-based binary options without registration, and to wind down non-compliant markets (CFTC press release 8478-22). Polymarket then blocked US users.
2. November 2024: investigations. US authorities investigated whether US users were still trading on the platform, despite the block (CoinDesk).
3. July 2025: probes closed. The Justice Department and CFTC ended their investigations without charges (CNBC). The same month, Polymarket agreed to acquire QCEX, a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse.
4. 2025–2026: Polymarket US. The US exchange launched as an app for eligible US residents. As of early October 2026, RotoGrinders reports it's open without a waitlist and unavailable in Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Washington, the same nine states it lists for Kalshi (RotoGrinders). Several states dispute whether federal rules override state gambling law for sports contracts, so this list moves.

Bottom line for US readers: Polymarket US (and Kalshi) are the federally regulated options, subject to your state. polymarket.com remains restricted for people in the US. When we checked from a US connection, polymarket.com showed a notice that trading is blocked in the US and pointed to polymarket.us. Tools built for polymarket.com, including copy-trading bots and Ghost Trader, are not for US users. See Kalshi vs Polymarket for a comparison of the US options.

Elsewhere: allowed by Polymarket isn't the same as legal for you

Polymarket not blocking your country doesn't mean your government considers prediction markets legal. Some countries regulate them as gambling, some as financial derivatives, and some haven't decided. Several countries on the list above were added after national regulators acted. Before you trade, check:

• whether your country treats event contracts as gambling, derivatives or something else;
• tax: winnings or gains may be taxable even where trading is allowed;
• crypto rules for holding and moving stablecoins.

Is it legal to use a bot on Polymarket?

Polymarket actively supports automated trading. It publishes official APIs and SDKs, runs a Builder Program for apps that route orders, and documents co-location for verified users. Using a bot in an allowed jurisdiction is normal. What isn't allowed:

• Bypassing geo-restrictions with VPNs, proxies or servers in another country.
• Market manipulation, such as wash trading or spoofing. Terms of Service and, for regulated venues, market-integrity rules prohibit it.
• Trading on material non-public information where rules or law forbid it.

A responsible bot also shouldn't help you break these rules. Good practice is to check the geoblock endpoint at startup and before trading, and refuse to run when blocked. That's what we recommend any tool do, Ghost Trader included.

Practical checklist before you trade

1. Check Polymarket's current geographic restrictions and the developer list. They change.
2. Check your own country's rules and tax treatment.
3. In the US, use a regulated venue available in your state.
4. Don't use VPNs or "geo-unblocking" tools.
5. Keep records of every trade for tax purposes. On Polymarket international they're also public onchain.
6. Read how markets resolve and the risks of trading bots before automating.

FAQ

Is Polymarket legal in the US? The international site (polymarket.com) is restricted for people in the US. Polymarket US is a CFTC-regulated exchange open to eligible US residents, except in states where it's unavailable.

Is Polymarket legal in the UK, Canada or Australia? Polymarket lists the UK and Australia as restricted, and in Canada the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. Other Canadian provinces aren't on the list. Check local law.

Can I use Polymarket with a VPN? Polymarket prohibits it in its Terms of Service and may restrict accounts that do. It may also break local law.

What happens to my positions if my country becomes restricted? Polymarket usually puts newly restricted jurisdictions on close-only, so you can close but not open positions. In some cases you hold to resolution and then withdraw. Sanctioned regions are blocked completely.

Is Ghost Trader available in my country? Ghost Trader is available only where Polymarket allows trading, and not in the US. If Polymarket restricts your location, Ghost Trader isn't for you.

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Ghost Trader is a Polymarket copy-trading and crypto-signal bot for traders in regions where Polymarket is available. Your key stays on your machine, paper mode is included, and risk limits are enforced. $199/month. See pricing.

Not legal or financial advice. Trading can lose money. Ghost Trader isn't available where Polymarket restricts trading, including the US, and is not affiliated with Polymarket.