Portugal’s gambling regulator SRIJ has ordered a ban on the Polymarket prediction market in the country, citing bets on the country’s presidential election worth over €103 million.
Portugal’s gambling regulator SRIJ has ordered a ban on the Polymarket prediction market in the country, citing bets on the country’s presidential election worth over €103 million.
Betting on political events is illegal in Portugal, so Polymarket was given 48 hours to cease operations in the country, CoinDesk reports. The Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) said that Polymarket does not have a license to provide betting services in Portugal and is operating illegally.
In Portugal, betting on political events and other real-world outcomes is illegal. Under the country’s 2015 online gambling law, only sports, casino, and horse racing betting are permitted.
«The website is not authorized to offer betting in Portugal, as national law prohibits betting operations on political events, both domestic and international,» SRIJ reminded.
Polymarket remains available for now, but ISPs are expected to block it soon. Other prediction markets such as Kalshi, Myriad and Limitless are still available in Portugal.
Polymarket is already facing restrictions in over 30 countries, including Singapore, Belgium, Italy, and, most recently, Ukraine.
The National Commission for the Regulation of Electronic Communications (NCEC) has issued a decision to restrict access to 198 websites through which gambling is organized, conducted, or provided without a license. Among these resources is Polymarket, a crypto platform for predictions where users place bets on the outcome of real events. This was preceded by a corresponding decision by the state agency PlayCity on November 27.
Some countries, such as Belgium, have blacklisted the website, while others, such as France, have made it possible for local users to access the platform in «view-only» mode.
