Czech Republic adds Polymarket to its illegal gambling list, orders ISPs to block access within 15 days.

The Czech Republic has become the latest European country to block Polymarket on grounds of "unlicensed gambling." On July 13, the Czech Ministry of Finance added the platform to its Unlicensed Online Games List, requiring local internet service providers to cut off access to it within 15 days. Jan Řehola, head of the Czech gambling regulator, stated that under legal gambling, the state knows who operates, who participates, and which bets are suspicious. While prediction markets take different forms, they essentially allow betting on almost any event—from weather and political decisions to security operations—yet lack corresponding regulation. Czech regulators noted that multiple EU countries have restricted or blocked the platform in recent months, with pressure intensifying this month: Italy has re-listed Polymarket on its blocklist, and the Netherlands has rejected the platform’s appeal. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) also warned this month that event contracts qualifying as financial instruments are already subject to existing binary options rules, which ban their sale to retail investors. Meanwhile, some jurisdictions are taking the opposite approach: Gibraltar this week launched the world’s first regulatory framework specifically for prediction markets, separating the sector from general gambling laws and allowing licensed operations. Malta has also indicated it is exploring a similar system.