Image credit: Shutterstock
Spain’s Consumer Rights Ministry has opened sanction proceedings against Polymarket and Kalshi and ordered internet providers to block access to both prediction market platforms.
The precautionary block was published in the Official State Gazette on May 26. It is expected to remain in place for three to four months while authorities review whether the platforms operated without the gambling licenses required under Spanish law.
DGOJ Says Platforms Lacked Gambling Licenses
The action was taken through Spain’s gambling regulator, the Directorate General for Gambling Regulation, known as the DGOJ. Authorities said Polymarket and Kalshi let users stake money on uncertain future outcomes.
Spain’s position is that those products fall within the country’s gambling regime when offered locally without the necessary administrative authorization. That puts the platforms in the same regulatory category as unlicensed betting operators, rather than financial venues or forecasting services.
Three-Month Website Block Stays During Review
Spanish officials said the websites will stay blocked during the investigation because unauthorized operators may lack safeguards required under national gambling rules. Those safeguards include identity verification, protections for minors and controls for self-excluded users.
The ministry also said direct notification attempts to the operators at known foreign addresses had failed. That led authorities to publish the matter through the state gazette before enforcing the block. The current order does not decide the final outcome of the proceedings. It restricts access while the regulator reviews whether Polymarket and Kalshi breached Spanish gambling rules.
Spain Treats Event Contracts as Online Betting
The case adds Spain to the widening regulatory fight over prediction markets. Some platforms argue that event contracts are information markets or financial products. Spain is treating Polymarket and Kalshi as unlicensed gambling operators because users stake money on uncertain outcomes.
That approach mirrors action in other jurisdictions where national authorities have relied on betting laws to restrict event-contract platforms.
For Polymarket and Kalshi, the Spanish block is another sign that international expansion remains vulnerable to local gambling rules. Even as U.S. regulators and courts debate whether event contracts belong under derivatives oversight, countries such as Spain are moving through gambling enforcement channels.
