I opened Polymarket from a US IP out of curiosity and got the geoblock screen everyone talks about. The site loaded fine, prices were visible, but the trade button wouldn’t confirm. Spent the weekend working out exactly what’s blocked, what isn’t, and what “is Polymarket legal in the US” actually means in practice.
Here’s the number that actually matters: on a standard sportsbook, two-way odds of 1.95 and 1.85 work out to 1/1.95 + 1/1.85 = 1.053 — a built-in 5.3% margin, taken regardless of outcome. A prediction-market terminal built on top of Polymarket charges a flat 1% of volume instead, shown before you confirm, not buried in the price.
Short answer: using the platform to view markets is legal everywhere in the US. What’s restricted is opening a new position directly from a US IP — Polymarket applies a close-only mode to US users, not a full block. You can browse, you can close existing positions, you can’t open new ones through the direct interface.
“Banned” implies the site doesn’t load. It does — instantly, with no sign of a network-level block. “Fully legal” implies no restriction at all, which also isn’t quite right. Polymarket restricts new position openings from US IPs at the exchange level. That’s separate from state-by-state gambling law, and separate from how ISP-level blocks work in other countries.
The distinction matters practically. A network block by an ISP can only be worked around by routing traffic differently. An exchange-level close-only policy is the platform’s own choice, applied the same way regardless of which US state the request comes from. A gateway that routes the trade through a different path addresses it.
California doesn’t add a separate state-level restriction on top of the exchange’s own geoblock — the close-only mode applies the same way across all fifty states, including California. State prediction-market and sports-betting law hasn’t caught up to this specific category yet, which is part of why the exchange handles it at the platform level instead of waiting on individual states to legislate separately.
Outside the close-only list, Polymarket works without restriction in most jurisdictions. Full access is blocked entirely in only four countries — Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea. Everywhere else falls into one of two categories: unrestricted, or close-only like the US.
Close-only mode currently covers roughly 30 jurisdictions beyond the US, including the UK and Brazil — same soft restriction, same platform-level reason. A separate, smaller group of countries block access at the network level instead: Spain, Argentina, Colombia, India, Portugal, Italy, and Australia route the restriction through local ISPs, not through the exchange itself. Both show some kind of blocked screen, but the fix for each is different — a gateway solves the exchange-level restriction, not an ISP-level one.
Close-only: US, UK, Brazil, and roughly 30 more. ISP-blocked: Spain, Argentina, Colombia, India, Portugal, Italy, Australia. Fully inaccessible regardless of workaround: Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea — just four countries total, out of roughly 190.
Canada doesn’t have a nationwide block — restrictions vary by province. BC, Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec apply close-only mode at the exchange level, the same mechanism as the US restriction. Other provinces currently have no restriction at all, which is easy to miss if you’re reading US-focused coverage and assuming the rule applies the same way north of the border.
Australia’s case is different again — ACMA’s August 2025 action blocked access at the ISP level, the network-block category, not the exchange’s own close-only system. That means the geoblock screen US traders see isn’t what Australian users hit at all; for them, the restriction happens before the site ever loads, at the provider level.
Access — no geoblock screen at all when routed through a gateway terminal instead of the direct exchange interface, since the request path doesn’t originate from a flagged US IP the same way.
Wallet — created automatically on first visit, no separate signup form, no personal information collected at any point.
Deposit — USDT, network fee shown as its own line item, not folded into an exchange rate the way it sometimes is elsewhere.
Trade — contract price set by the order book, gateway takes a flat 1% of volume, visible before the trade confirms, not calculated after the fact.
overdog.bet is the terminal I used to check this myself — sports and esports markets specifically, covering 19 sports and 12 esports titles, all running on the same underlying exchange.
Numbers I checked against my own trades are on the proof page — it’s public, no support ticket required to see the history.
Can you use Polymarket in the US? You can view and close positions from any US state. Opening new positions directly is restricted by the exchange’s close-only mode, separate from state gambling law.
Can I use Polymarket in the US? Same answer regardless of which state — the restriction is applied by the exchange itself, not by individual state regulators, so it doesn’t vary state to state.
Why is Polymarket banned in US? It isn’t banned outright — the close-only mode is the exchange’s own policy choice, not a US regulatory ban. The site remains fully viewable and existing positions can still be closed.
When will Polymarket be legal in the US? No public timeline exists for lifting close-only mode. The distinction from an outright ban matters here — there’s no law to repeal, just a platform policy that could change independently of any regulatory action.
Can you use Polymarket in Canada? Is Polymarket available in Canada? Depends on the province. BC, Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec are close-only, same mechanism as the US. Other provinces currently have no restriction.
Can I use Polymarket in Canada? Can Canadians use Polymarket? Yes, with the same province-by-province caveat — check which of the four restricted provinces applies before assuming access works the same way everywhere in the country.
Is Polymarket banned in Australia? Does Polymarket work in Australia? Access is blocked at the ISP level following ACMA’s August 2025 action — this is a network-level block, not the exchange’s own close-only mode.
Why is Polymarket banned in Australia? Can Australians use Polymarket? The block originates from ACMA, Australia’s communications regulator, not from Polymarket itself — which is why the restriction mechanism looks different from what US or Canadian users experience.
Responsible gambling isn’t a line to skip. If trading stops being a deliberate decision and starts being a way to cover a budget gap, that’s a reason to pause, not size up. More on the responsible gambling page.
Is Polymarket Legal in the US? Restricted States, the Geoblock and What Still Works (2026) was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
