Lithuania orders ISPs and PSPs to block Polymarket over unlicensed gambling concerns

The Lithuanian gambling regulator has ordered access to Polymarket to be blocked, saying the prediction market platform was effectively offering illegal remote gambling without a licence. For PSPs, the practical point is simple: the authority has also told payment service providers to terminate all payment transactions with Adventure One QSS, Inc.

1. The Supervisory Authority said it received a decision from the Regional Administrative Court and then issued binding instructions to communication service providers to block access to the Polymarket website. In the regulator’s view, the platform was attempting to “circumvent restrictions on illegal remote gambling”.
2. The regulator said this was the first time it had taken action against a prediction market operator. It argued that although the site describes itself as a “prediction market” where participants buy or sell predictions on event outcomes, its investigation found signs of gambling, and that gambling was offered without a licence and permit.
3. Payment service providers were also told to stop processing transactions with Adventure One QSS, Inc. That is the bit PSPs will care about most: the order is not just about access to the website, but about cutting off payment flows to the operator.
4. Lithuania is not alone here. The regulator said countries including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain have also taken action to limit access to Polymarket. In other words, this is part of a broader European pattern of treating prediction markets as gambling when the product looks, walks and talks like betting.
5. The Lithuanian regulator said it has now blocked 2,204 unlawful remote gambling websites in its efforts to curb black-market activity. Separately, the issue of unlicensed gambling has been under debate in Lithuania, with the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) earlier this summer claiming that Lithuanian fintech company Walletto had been processing payments for illegal online gambling operators.

There is also a domestic policy angle worth watching. In April, the Ministry of Finance proposed mandatory player cards for gambling in Lithuania, scheduled to take effect on January 1 2029, to link activity across operators and strengthen oversight of deposits, winnings and gambling behaviour across online and land-based venues.