Czech Republic adds Polymarket to its unauthorized online gambling blacklist, forcing ISP blocks within 15 days

The Czech Ministry of Finance has added Polymarket to its official list of unauthorized online gambling, which triggers a legal duty for internet service providers in the country to block access to the platform within 15 days. For PSPs and high-risk operators, the useful part is not the headline drama but the mechanism: a prediction market can be treated as gambling if the regulator thinks it fits the legal definition.

1. The ministry announced the move on Tuesday, making the Czech Republic the 10th country in Europe to restrict the decentralized prediction market. The action is not a warning shot; it is an enforcement step that puts access control on local ISPs.
2. According to the ministry’s statement, Polymarket falls within the Czech legal definition of unauthorized gambling. The document also cites research projecting that the platform will move close to $220 billion during 2025, with estimated monthly turnover of $10 billion to $11 billion. That volume was one of the factors behind the demand for formal supervision.
3. Czech authorities pointed to two main risks, both familiar to regulators in other European jurisdictions: manipulation of outcomes and misuse of non-public information by users with privileged access to event data. In other words, the product may look like a market, but the regulator is focused on betting mechanics and information asymmetry.
4. Jan Řehola, director of the Institute for Regulation of Gambling, the trade body representing Czech operators, said the legal framework should follow the nature of the product, not the label used to sell it. He argued that if a product allows users to win or lose money based on the outcome of an uncertain event, it should be treated as gambling, even if it is wrapped as a contract.
5. Řehola also said the measure is not meant to stop technological innovation, but to ensure equivalent rules for all operators taking bets for money. He added that Polymarket’s blockchain-based architecture, built for global access with limited identity verification, makes it harder to control source of funds and the real identity of users, both of which matter for anti-money laundering supervision.

The practical point for high-risk payment teams is straightforward: if a jurisdiction decides a prediction market is gambling, the usual questions follow quickly — authorization status, player protection rules, source-of-funds controls, and whether the platform can satisfy local AML expectations. The Czech case fits a wider European pattern of regulators treating these products less like fintech toys and more like wagering businesses with a compliance problem.