Polymarket Lobbies Europe for Financial Service Status
The prediction market giant wants out of gambling regulation — and is pushing hard in the UK and EU to get there.
Polymarket is mounting a coordinated lobbying campaign across the UK and Europe to have its prediction market products classified as financial services rather than gambling, according to SBC News (September 22, 2026).
Why It Matters
The regulatory classification question is existential for prediction markets: a "financial service" label unlocks lighter-touch oversight, institutional participation, and access to the EU's passporting regime, while a "gambling" tag means country-by-country licensing battles and potential bans. Polymarket has already been expelled from Italy, the Netherlands, and France — three of the continent's largest addressable markets. If the campaign succeeds, it could open a multibillion-euro market and force incumbent sportsbooks and exchanges to compete with a structurally different product class. Failure deepens the regulatory moat protecting licensed gambling operators, at least in Europe.
Context
Polymarket and Kalshi are the two dominant global prediction market platforms, per SBC News reporting. Polymarket's European troubles pre-date this lobbying push — regulators in multiple jurisdictions concluded that taking positions on event outcomes constitutes gambling, regardless of the platform's framing as information markets. The debate mirrors earlier battles over financial spread betting and CFDs, which eventually secured dedicated regulatory frameworks separate from gambling law in the UK.
What's Next
Watch for formal submissions to the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and any European Securities and Markets Authority consultations as the next concrete milestones. A favourable FCA opinion would carry significant persuasive weight with EU member-state regulators still forming policy.
Gambling — including participation in prediction markets — involves financial risk. Never stake more than you can afford to lose.
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