Spain has blocked both prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi for operating without gambling licences.
Summary
- Spain’s gambling regulator ordered ISPs to block Polymarket and Kalshi within seven to ten days, with a formal investigation expected to last three to four months.
- The platforms were cited for lacking required gambling authorisation, age verification systems, and self-exclusion mechanisms under Spanish consumer protection law.
- Spain is the fifth country to block one or both platforms in 2026, following Brazil, Indonesia, India, and Portugal, as governments classify prediction markets as unlicensed gambling.
Spain’s gambling regulator, the Directorate General for Gambling Regulation, ordered internet service providers to block access to Polymarket and Kalshi after the Ministry of Consumer Affairs published formal sanction proceedings in Spain’s Official State Gazette on May 26.
The block is expected to take effect within seven to ten days and will remain in place for approximately three to four months while the investigation concludes.
Spain classified both platforms as illegal gambling operators for offering money-staked bets on uncertain future outcomes without the required administrative authorisation.
Authorities cited a total absence of age verification controls, self-exclusion mechanisms, and identity checks safeguards that Spanish gambling law requires from all online operators taking money-staked wagers.
Why Spain moved now and what triggered the regulatory action
The timing has a political dimension. Polymarket recently opened a market on whether Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government would fall early, and Kalshi lists Sánchez at 29% odds to leave office in 2026. Both markets generated significant traffic on Spanish social media, accelerating regulatory attention that might otherwise have moved more slowly.
Spanish authorities were explicit that blockchain infrastructure does not exempt platforms from gambling law. “Using crypto or blockchain doesn’t change platforms that let users wager on uncertain outcomes from being gambling products,” authorities stated in published notices. The same legal framing has now been adopted by at least five separate national jurisdictions.
Brazil blocked both platforms in April as part of a sweeping action covering approximately 28 platforms. Indonesia blocked Polymarket on May 25 as illegal online gambling. India issued a formal blocking order on May 21 after reclassifying prediction markets as “money games” under rules that took effect May 1.
Portugal blocked Polymarket in January after a surge in presidential election bets, and Argentina followed with a court-ordered block in March. The Netherlands escalated enforcement in February and Belgium made a referral in March, making Spain the third European-level action of 2026.
Crypto.news has covered the regulatory calendar pressure in 2026, including the House Oversight Committee separately requesting records from Kalshi and Polymarket over insider trading risks and KYC compliance concerns.
What the global crackdown means for the prediction market industry
Polymarket is currently valued at approximately $15 billion and Kalshi at around $22 billion. Both platforms together processed several billion dollars in trading volume around the 2024 US presidential election and have continued expanding into sports, geopolitics, and corporate-event contracts. The crackdowns do not eliminate these businesses but meaningfully restrict European and emerging-market access.
In the United States, the CFTC has actively defended Kalshi’s right to operate under federal oversight and has moved to sue states attempting their own restrictions, creating a diverging regulatory map.
Crypto.news has reported on AML enforcement becoming the dominant regulatory pressure axis for crypto-adjacent services in 2026. Crypto.news has also tracked the US Treasury’s push to bring financial intermediaries operating without regulated frameworks under Bank Secrecy Act obligations, the same structural argument underpinning Spain’s position.
