{"id":985491,"date":"2026-05-26T08:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T08:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/985491\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T08:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T08:30:16","slug":"spain-blocks-polymarket-kalshi-over-licence-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/985491\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain blocks Polymarket, Kalshi over licence issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Spain\u2019s Consumer Rights Ministry has temporarily banned prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi from operating in the country due to their failure to obtain a required gambling licence, according to the official state gazette published on Tuesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.az\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News.Az<\/a> reports, citing <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/spain-blocks-prediction-markets-polymarket-kalshi-over-lack-gambling-licences-2026-05-26\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the ministry said its gambling regulator had launched an investigation into the two U.S.-based companies over alleged breaches of national rules, specifically operating without the mandatory administrative authorisation.<\/p>\n<p>The ban is expected to remain in place for around three to four months, lasting until the completion of the ongoing probe, the ministry added.<\/p>\n<p>Prediction markets are platforms where users buy and sell stakes on the outcome of future events, with prices reflecting the perceived probability of different outcomes occurring.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.az\/search?search=spain\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spain<\/a>, like several other European jurisdictions, classifies prediction markets as a form of gambling when they involve wagering on uncertain outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>The ministry also said that unauthorised operators do not meet required technical and regulatory safeguards, including identity verification systems, access controls for minors, protections for individuals who have self-excluded or are banned from gambling, and broader standards designed to protect users.<\/p>\n<p>Once a niche segment of the internet, prediction markets have expanded into a multi-billion-dollar industry in recent years, particularly after gaining traction in U.S. politics in 2024.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.az\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News.Az<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"by-user\" href=\"https:\/\/news.az\/journalists\/nijat-babayev\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">By Nijat Babayev<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s Consumer Rights Ministry has temporarily banned prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi from operating in the country due&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":985492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,273968,35240,93935,104],"class_list":["post-985491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-gambling-licence","tag-kalshi","tag-polymarket","tag-spain"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}