Lazio ends Polymarket sponsorship after Italy adds prediction platform to banned gambling list

SS Lazio has terminated its sponsorship deal with Polymarket after Italy’s customs and monopolies agency, ADM, ordered the platform blocked and added it to the country’s blacklist of gambling sites. For PSPs and high-risk merchants, the useful part is not the football angle: it is another example of a prediction market running into local gambling rules, with contract continuity now sitting on top of regulatory risk.

1. SS Lazio said the deal was ended “in a spirit of mutual cooperation” with Polymarket’s consent, citing “new provisions adopted by the competent authorities that have impacted the regulatory framework.” In plain terms, the sponsor relationship could not survive the Italian position on the product.
2. Italy’s ADM ordered Polymarket to be blocked on July 10, placing it on the list of blacklisted gambling sites. Media reports said the platform became inaccessible in Italy from July 27.
3. Polymarket had been announced as Lazio’s sponsor and “Fan Intelligence & Digital Insight Partner” in April, in a deal reportedly worth more than $22m, plus performance-based incentives. That made the regulatory reversal expensive, not symbolic.
4. Even after the early termination, Polymarket agreed to honour the full payment for the 2026/27 season. Both sides also said they were open to revisiting the partnership if regulatory conditions change.
5. The backdrop matters: Italy has had a ban on gambling-related sponsorships and advertising since 2019 under the “Decreto Dignità”. FIGC has urged the government to reconsider the ban, arguing that it reduces revenue and leaves Serie A clubs at a disadvantage versus other major European leagues.

Polymarket is not the only prediction platform under pressure in Europe. It was blocked in France in 2024, in Belgium in 2025, and faced a temporary blocking order in Spain alongside Kalshi in April of this year. In June, nine European regulators issued a joint warning on prediction markets, focusing on player protection and market integrity, while Germany’s GGL opened an investigation into FIFA partner ADI Predictstreet after it received a gambling licence in Gibraltar earlier this year. ESMA has also said some prediction products could be treated as restricted financial instruments in the EU, including yes-or-no contracts with fixed payouts that may fall under the ban on marketing and selling binary options to retail customers.

Italy’s ADM has also ordered internet service providers to block 190 more gambling websites, including sites linked to Russian betting operators. For market operators, the message is simple enough: if your product sits anywhere near gambling or financial-contract classifications, local blocking orders can move faster than your commercial calendar.