Czech Republic Adds Polymarket to Unlicensed Gambling Blocklist, Gives ISPs 15 Days to Cut Access

The Czech Republic has moved to block crypto-based prediction market Polymarket, classifying it as unlicensed online gambling and ordering internet providers to restrict access within 15 days. The Finance Ministry added Polymarket to its List of Unauthorized Internet Games on July 13, the Institute for Gambling Regulation said, noting the listing was flagged publicly on Tuesday. The ministry's blocklist already contains several thousand websites. Czech authorities say the core issue is supervision. The ministry views Polymarket as inadequately monitored and therefore a risk, reflecting a wider European regulatory stance that prediction markets operate like gambling regardless of branding. Jan Řehola, director of the Institute for Gambling Regulation, welcomed the decision and argued that regulated gambling requires clear visibility into operators and participants, the ability to detect suspicious bets, and defined safeguards for player protection and market integrity. By comparison, he said prediction markets can enable wagering on a broad range of real-world events — from weather and politics to security operations — without comparable oversight, making them "a gambling product outside the rules." Řehola also highlighted a format-specific concern: because contracts settle on real-world outcomes, they may incentivize attempts to influence events or encourage trading on nonpublic information, a prediction-market analogue to insider trading. Similar concerns have followed Polymarket in other jurisdictions after instances where traders profited from contracts tied to geopolitical and security developments. Polymarket's structure continues to clash with national gambling frameworks. The platform functions as a decentralized exchange that settles in the USDC stablecoin rather than through a licensed local operator, placing it outside the authorization and supervisory models typically used by European regulators. The Institute said restrictions across the EU have expanded in recent months. Pressure intensified this month after Italy re-added Polymarket to its blocked list and Dutch authorities rejected the platform's appeal. Separately, the EU's markets regulator ESMA warned this month that event contracts qualifying as financial instruments are already prohibited for retail sale under existing binary-options rules. The Czech move lands just days after Gibraltar introduced what it describes as the world's first dedicated regulatory regime for prediction markets, creating a bespoke framework that sits outside its general gambling law and licenses operators rather than banning them. Malta has indicated it is exploring a similar approach. The result is a widening divide in Europe: most national regulators are blocking prediction markets as unlicensed gambling, while a small number of jurisdictions are positioning themselves as regulated hubs for the sector. The split is emerging as prediction-market trading volumes hit record highs, boosted in part by World Cup-related activity that draws large European audiences.