Is Polymarket legal in Australia?

The short answer

No. Polymarket holds no Australian licence, ACMA has internet providers block polymarket.com, and Polymarket doesn’t accept users in Australia: its help centre lists Australia first among the 39 countries “completely restricted” from using it. If you want to bet on elections and other events legally, use a licensed bookmaker or the Betfair exchange.

Why it isn’t legal here

Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, a service that takes bets online from anyone physically present in Australia needs a licence from a state or territory that covers that kind of service, wherever the provider is based. Providing one without it can cost a civil penalty of up to 7,500 penalty units, with each day a separate contravention. Polymarket has no such licence and isn’t on ACMA’s register of licensed interactive gambling providers.

ACMA’s block

ACMA asks internet providers to block websites that break the Act, including those “providing an unlicensed regulated interactive gambling service to customers in Australia (such as online betting services that don’t have a valid Australian licence)”. polymarket.com was on its blocked list when we checked it on October 23 and October 25, 2026; on the second date, the list held 1,810 addresses. At Senate Estimates on May 27, 2026, ACMA said that as at March 31, 2026, 1,564 illegal sites had been blocked and 230 illegal services had withdrawn from the Australian market as a result of its action.

We couldn’t confirm when polymarket.com was added to the list, or what ACMA said about it, because ACMA’s site didn’t respond to us. We’ll add it when we can.

Polymarket’s own restrictions

Polymarket’s help centre, in an article dated August 14, 2026, lists Australia among the 39 countries completely restricted from accessing it, and says using a VPN or similar tools to get around those restrictions violates its terms of service. Its developer documentation lists Australia among the jurisdictions where users can close existing positions but can’t open new ones. Either way, Polymarket doesn’t accept new trading from Australia.

What it means for you

• The law targets providers. The Act’s offences and penalties apply to whoever provides or advertises an illegal service, not the customer.
• No protection. BetStop, the national self-exclusion register, doesn’t apply to illegal services, and if an unlicensed platform won’t pay, no Australian regulator can step in.
• Payments will be blocked. From January 1, 2027, banks and payment providers must block payments, crypto included, to designated illegal gambling services.

What you can use instead

The closest legal alternative is the Betfair exchange, licensed by the Northern Territory, where you back or lay elections and other events against other punters, at prices they set, for a commission on your net winnings. Bet Right’s InfoMarket looks most like Polymarket, with prices in cents from 1c to 99c, but every trade is a bet with Bet Right. Compare them, and bookmakers such as bet365 with detailed election markets, in our ranking of the legal alternatives to prediction markets, and read the wider guide, are prediction markets legal in Australia? Free, confidential help is available from the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858, 24/7.