Nine EU Regulators Unite to Block Prediction Markets
Polymarket and Kalshi face simultaneous access bans across Belgium, France, Germany, and six more countries.
Nine European gambling regulators launched a coordinated campaign this week to block unlicensed prediction markets, with Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain all taking enforcement action, according to iGaming Business.
Why It Matters
Operators Polymarket and Kalshi — the two dominant prediction market platforms globally — have already been blocked in several of the listed jurisdictions. This coordinated action signals a shift from isolated national enforcement toward a unified European regulatory posture, making it significantly harder for prediction market operators to route around one country's rules by serving users from a neighboring state. For crypto-native platforms that have relied on regulatory ambiguity to grow European user bases, this crackdown materially narrows the addressable market. Any operator without a jurisdiction-specific license now faces simultaneous exclusion across nine countries.
Context
Prediction markets occupy a contested legal grey zone in Europe: regulators in most EU states classify event-contract trading as gambling, requiring a local license, while platforms like Polymarket argue they operate as information markets. As of June 2026, neither Polymarket nor Kalshi holds gambling licenses in any of the nine countries named in the enforcement action.
What's Next
Watch for formal cease-and-desist orders or fines directed at specific operators over the coming months — coordinated actions of this type typically escalate from access blocks to financial penalties. A pan-European regulatory framework specifically addressing prediction markets, potentially through the European Gaming and Betting Association, is now a realistic near-term policy discussion.
Note: Gambling involves financial risk. Prediction markets carry the additional risk of regulatory inaccessibility with little warning.
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