Polymarket Is Geoblocked in Ireland as European Regulators Keep Closing In

Polymarket has now been ordered to geoblock access in Ireland, after the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) became the latest European regulator to push the platform out of its market. For PSPs, the point is straightforward: prediction markets are getting treated less like a quirky fintech category and more like gambling operators that need local permission.

1. The Irish move follows a similar request from the French Gambling Authority, which blocked Polymarket over consumer safety concerns and non-compliance with local gambling laws. Polymarket has complied with both regulators and added both countries to its list of restricted countries.
2. In Ireland, work is underway to regulate prediction market platforms. From July 1, 2026, any remote betting service operator, including prediction markets, must hold a relevant licence from the gambling authority.
3. The GRAI said it has several live investigations into black market gambling, with a view to potential prosecutions in due course. The regulator did not name Polymarket directly, but the company was identified in a report by the Irish Examiner, which also quoted the regulator saying that a major prediction market had geoblocked its service and voluntarily restricted access from Ireland.
4. Ireland is not acting alone. Polymarket has faced similar resistance in Germany, Italy and Spain, while the Dutch Gambling Regulator has said the platform constitutes gambling and is subject to the relevant laws in the Netherlands. Outside Europe, attorneys general and judges have also sided with individual states against Polymarket in the United States, including Kentucky and Michigan.

For high-risk payment providers, the operational lesson is the same across these notices: if a jurisdiction treats a prediction market as gambling, the platform needs local licensing and a clean market-by-market blocking story. Otherwise the regulator will write that story for them.