Lithuania blocks Polymarket over illegal gambling claims
Lithuania has become the latest European country to take enforcement action against Polymarket, with authorities ruling the prediction-market platform is offering illegal gambling.
The Lithuanian Gambling Supervisory Authority determined that activity offered through Polymarket displayed the characteristics of betting despite being marketed as a prediction market.
The regulator said the gambling was being organised without the required Lithuanian licence and permit.
Following a decision from the Regional Administrative Court, Lithuanian internet providers have been instructed to block access to Polymarket.
Payment service providers have also been ordered to stop transactions involving Adventure One QSS, Inc, which the regulator identified as the operator responsible for the illegal gambling activity.
“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,” the regulator said.
“Such gambling was organised without a license and permit.”
Polymarket is the first prediction-market platform to be subjected to the Lithuanian blocking regime.
The action adds Lithuania to a growing group of jurisdictions taking the position that prediction contracts based on sporting and other events amount to gambling rather than conventional financial trading.
Authorities in countries including France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have previously taken action restricting Polymarket, while South Korea also moved against the platform recently.
Lithuania has become increasingly aggressive in blocking unlicensed gambling websites, with the regulator saying more than 2,200 illegal remote gambling sites have now been blocked.
