FT: Polymarket seeks financial-market status in Europe and the UK

Polymarket has started lobbying regulators in Europe and the UK to have its prediction contracts treated as financial instruments rather than bets. For PSPs and partners, the point is simple: if regulators accept that framing, the compliance perimeter shifts from gambling rules to securities-style supervision.

1. According to the Financial Times, the US prediction-market platform has been meeting regulators in London, Brussels and other European capitals as part of the campaign. Polymarket is pushing for its contracts to be regulated under the EU’s core financial-market rules, rather than under separate national gambling laws.
2. The company’s argument is that its products should be treated as derivatives, not wagers. Polymarket users can trade on a wide range of events, from sports results and election outcomes to central bank decisions and Oscar winners, which is exactly the kind of broad event exposure that makes the regulatory label matter more than the marketing copy.
3. European officials are not exactly nodding along. ESMA (the European Securities and Markets Authority) has warned that prediction markets are “full of insider trading,” while the FCA (the UK Financial Conduct Authority) sees such contracts as speculative and similar to gambling.
4. The derivative case is not just about what event the contract references. In 2024, a lawyer noted that tokens can be sold before the outcome is known, their price moves independently of the result, and they can develop a life of their own as traded instruments. In the US, the CFTC also viewed the platform in 2024 as more than a betting venue, treating it as a seller of financial instruments.
5. That matters because the supervisory risk is information abuse. In February 2026, some senators cited a Polymarket trade where a user staked about $34 тыс. on Nicolás Maduro’s ouster shortly before a US operation in Venezuela and then made more than $400 тыс. after the event. If the contracts are classified as gambling bets instead, US practice would require an appropriate licence for that kind of business.