Czech Republic tells ISPs to block Polymarket after gambling blacklisting
Czech regulators added Polymarket to the national blacklist of unauthorized online gambling sites, requiring ISPs to block access within 15 days. The Finance Ministry said the platform lacks a Czech gambling license under the Gambling Act. Polymarket is a prediction market for trading contracts on future events and drew attention during the 2024 US election. The move fits broader pressure on prediction markets in Europe and elsewhere. Regulators in several EU countries have already restricted Polymarket and Kalshi, and ESMA recently warned that some event contracts may already fall under existing EU rules on binary options or MiFID II if they qualify as financial instruments. Similar actions have also appeared in Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, and several US states, where regulators dispute whether event contracts are gambling or federally regulated derivatives.
