Spain blocks Polymarket and Kalshi over missing gambling licences

Spain has temporarily blocked the US-based prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi from operating in the country without gambling licences. The Consumer Rights Ministry, which oversees the gambling watchdog, opened a formal investigation into both companies for allegedly breaching Spanish rules requiring online operators offering money-staked wagers on uncertain outcomes to obtain administrative authorisation. The suspension is expected to last three to four months while the probe continues. The order cites missing technical and consumer safeguards required of licensed operators, including identity verification and access controls designed to prevent minors from accessing the platforms. Spain joins other European jurisdictions that have treated prediction markets as unlicensed gambling, with multiple countries issuing bans or enforcement actions.

"Spain has temporarily blocked the US-based prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi for operating in the country without a gambling licence, according to an order published in the Spanish state gazette on Tuesday by the Consumer Rights Ministry, which has authority over the country's gambling watchdog. The ministry has opened a formal investigation into both companies for allegedly breaching Spanish rules that require online operators offering money-staked wagers on uncertain outcomes to hold administrative authorisation. The suspension is expected to remain in place for three to four months while the probe runs."

"The order cites the absence of the technical and consumer safeguards required of licensed operators, including identity verification and access controls intended to keep minors off the platform. Spain joins a lengthening list of European jurisdictions to treat prediction markets as a form of gambling. France's national gaming authority blocked Polymarket in late 2024, ruling that its operation amounted to unlicensed gambling, and the same year Belgium, Poland and Italy issued bans of their own."

"The Dutch gambling regulator KSA threatened Polymarket with fines of 420,000 per week if it continued serving Dutch users without a licence, the largest single enforcement threat from a European regulator so far. There is no harmonised EU framework for event contracts; every member state applies its own gambling or financial rules. The Spanish action comes against the backdrop of a coordinated international tightening."

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