Most people who search "Polymarket VPN" have just opened polymarket.com and hit a banner saying trading is unavailable where they are. The obvious next thought is to switch on a VPN. This post explains why that is a bad idea on Polymarket specifically: what the geoblock list looks like today, what the Terms of Use actually say, why VPN access tends to break, and what a front end like PolyZig does and does not change. It is not a guide to getting around anything.

Which countries Polymarket restricts (September 2026)

Polymarket publishes its restricted list in its developer geoblock documentation, and its Terms of Use point to that list as the operative one. Location is determined from your IP address, and the list has three tiers:

Blocked completely. Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. No new orders, and existing positions cannot be closed either.
Close-only on the website and the API. You can exit existing positions but not open new ones. This tier includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Brazil, Russia, Belarus, Venezuela, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta, plus a number of sanctioned or conflict-affected states.
Close-only on the website only. Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Malta (sports markets only). Here the web front end blocks new trades while the API is not restricted.

The different official pages don't agree perfectly. The Terms of Use (effective 11 August 2026) also name Hungary and Slovenia, and the help center article on geographic restrictions (updated 14 August 2026) counts 39 blocked countries and folds Ireland, Japan and the Netherlands into that total. The lists change without notice, so check the source rather than a blog post, including this one. Polymarket also exposes a public endpoint, https://polymarket.com/api/geoblock, that returns the IP, country and region it has detected for you.

What the Terms of Use say about VPNs

The rule is written plainly. Among the representations every user makes, the Terms of Use include: "You do not, and will not, use VPN software or any other privacy or anonymization tools or techniques to circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, any restrictions that apply to the Site, any other Interface, or the Features." The eligibility preamble repeats it in capitals and adds the consequence: anyone in violation may have their wallets placed in close-only mode and be barred from the trading features at Polymarket's discretion. The help center says the same thing more briefly: Polymarket "strictly prohibits the use of VPNs or similar tools to bypass geographic restrictions."

Three details in the terms matter more than people expect:

The restriction is about you, not just your connection. The terms bar trading by anyone "residing in, a citizen of, organized in or located in" a restricted jurisdiction. A VPN changes what your IP looks like. It doesn't change where you live.
Polymarket can ask for proof. The terms allow Polymarket to request information confirming you are not a restricted person, and to cut off access if you don't provide it or it isn't considered adequate.
"Close-only" is the stated enforcement tool. When people talk about a "Polymarket VPN ban", what the terms actually describe is a wallet moved into close-only mode: you can sell what you hold, but you can't open anything new. The website shows a "Trading Halted" notice citing a potential violation of the Terms of Service. For fully blocked jurisdictions, the documented rule is stricter still: existing positions can't be closed.

Because Polymarket positions sit on-chain in your own wallet, close-only mode is not the same as having funds seized. It still means you lose the ability to trade, possibly at a bad moment, and you have no contractual ground to argue from.

Why a Polymarket VPN "stops working"

If you've seen threads titled "Polymarket VPN not working", the cause is rarely the VPN app itself. Polymarket has tightened enforcement over 2026:

VPN IP ranges get blocked. Commercial VPN exit servers run on known datacenter IP ranges. In mid-2026 Polymarket began blocking IP addresses associated with VPN services, as Gizmodo reported on 30 May 2026 and Covers reported on 1 June 2026, citing The Information. A server that worked last month can land in a blocked range this month.
Identity checks for some users. The same reports describe Polymarket requesting identification from some users, including accounts seeking faster trading features and accounts with unusually large positions or rapid high-value activity. An IP address can be changed. A passport can't.
Your money has a paper trail. Card on-ramps and centralised exchanges verify your identity and home country before you buy crypto, and every transfer from them to a Polygon wallet is public on-chain. Hiding your connection doesn't hide that.
The list keeps moving. Countries have been added throughout 2025 and 2026, and Canada went from Ontario alone to four provinces. A VPN exit country that was unrestricted when you set it up may not be now.

Put together, a VPN offers no durable access. At best it works until something flags you, and then your wallet can end up in close-only mode.

The UK question

The UK is in the close-only tier on both the website and the API, and the Terms of Use name the United Kingdom explicitly as a restricted jurisdiction. The practical reason is regulatory: in Great Britain, betting on real-world outcomes is regulated gambling under the Gambling Act 2005, and Polymarket does not hold a Gambling Commission licence. A VPN doesn't change that; the terms restrict UK residents, not UK IP addresses.

UK residents who want to trade on event outcomes legally have licensed betting exchanges that match bettors peer-to-peer, which is the closest regulated equivalent. We cover the options country by country in Polymarket alternatives by country.

What PolyZig is, and what it doesn't change

PolyZig is an independent web app, not affiliated with Polymarket, that places orders on Polymarket's on-chain order book on Polygon for you. It does two things: copy trading of public Polymarket wallets you choose, and worldwide access, a Polymarket front end that works in countries where polymarket.com is geoblocked, with no VPN needed.

What that means concretely:

No VPN on your side. You open polyzig.com in a normal browser. Nothing on your device has to disguise where you are.
Self-custody. Your wallet is created through a Magic.link email login, or you connect MetaMask or WalletConnect. Keys are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM, and PolyZig cannot withdraw on your behalf except where you initiate it.
Your language. The interface is available in 31 languages, including Arabic and Persian.

What it does not change is just as important. Polymarket's terms restrict trading by where you live and where you are, whichever front end you use, and Polymarket reserves the right to put wallets into close-only mode. Your own country's gambling and financial laws apply to you, not to the website you trade through. Not needing a VPN is not the same thing as being permitted to trade. Read Polymarket's terms and your local rules before you deposit, and only put in money you can afford to lose: a prediction market position can go to zero.

Before you decide

If you've read the terms and your local rules and still want to trade, the worldwide access page explains how PolyZig works outside polymarket.com, and how it works covers wallets, fees and execution. Start small and keep your expectations realistic.