Polymarket Targeted in Lithuania as Gambling Regulator Takes Action

Lithuania’s gambling regulator has become the latest watchdog in Europe and around the world to take aim at Polymarket, a prediction market platform known for its sports event contracts. Recently, Denmark did the same. The regulator has deemed the company to be offering illegal gambling and thus breaching the country’s laws, ordering Polymarket to be blocked in the jurisdiction. Lithuania Blocks a Prediction Market Platform for the Very First Time This follows a decision from the Regional Administrative Court, which has greenlit the measure, with the Supervisory Authority now directing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to restrict access to the website. Similarly, the regulator has ordered payment providers to terminate all payment transactions with the operator. The regulator argued that despite Polymarket’s purported product offering, the watchdog has concluded that the products offered on the platform are close enough to gambling to necessitate the blocking. This is the first time the Lithuanian gambling authority has moved against the prediction market sector, but it echoes similar concerns raised by other European jurisdictions, among which Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France and Denmark, which have also targeted the platform. Regulator Finds Reason to Believe Prediction Markets Are Gambling In a statement, the Lithuanian regulator said: “Although the website stated that it provided the opportunity to participate in a “prediction market” – a system in which participants trade with each other by buying or selling their predictions of the outcome of an event, the investigation identified signs of gambling – betting.” This is a recent similar case, as South Korea recently also blocked Polymarket in the country and just referred 18 individuals to prosecutors for simply placing trades on the platform. A sign that authorities are not letting the issue go and will push back against prediction markets, which continue to increase in popularity.