Nevis launches a prediction markets licensing regime under NOGA

The federated state of Nevis, part of Saint Kitts and Nevis, has introduced a dedicated licensing framework for prediction market platforms. For high-risk operators, the point is not the branding exercise; it is that Nevis is now trying to give these products a specific regulatory home instead of forcing them into a generic gaming box.

1. The new licence was announced by the Nevis Online Gaming Authority (NOGA), which supervises the gaming sector in the territory. NOGA is now adding a Prediction Markets Licence to its service catalogue, putting Nevis alongside regulators that have already created a separate framework for the sector. The first one globally was Gibraltar, in early 2026.
2. The regime covers binary and multi-outcome markets across a wide range of topics: sports events, financial and economic indicators, political and election events, entertainment, weather and climate, and the movement of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. In other words, this is not a narrow product definition; it is meant to capture the full menu that prediction platforms actually trade.
3. NOGA said the licence will embed its standards in three areas: corporate due diligence, customer security, and compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) rules. The stated aim is to improve transparency and put controls in place to prevent possible manipulation. That matters for PSPs and partners because this is the part of the framework that usually decides whether a licence is merely decorative or usable in practice.
4. NOGA CEO Nuri Katz said regulatory approaches should reflect how these platforms operate and the risks tied to their business model. He also said the new framework is intended to give clearer guidance to companies entering the sector, while market integrity and participant protection remain central to the licensing process.
5. The new regime builds on Nevis’s existing legal structure. Local rules prohibit residents from taking part in online gambling, but the jurisdiction already allows B2B and B2C licences for businesses targeting international markets. The prediction markets licence extends that offer for companies seeking regulatory backing outside their home jurisdictions.

NOGA says prediction markets are not betting products, which is the argument that keeps coming back every time someone tries to regulate the sector. In the United States, platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, valued in billions of dollars, have gained significant traction, and they sit under the federal oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which treats them as something distinct from gambling. That classification is being challenged by several states, including New York, Arizona, and Utah.