Polymarket has once again found itself in the firing line of a European gambling regulator, with the predictions platform placed on a blacklist of blocked websites in Italy for the second time.
As reported by local media Agipro, the New York-headquartered, cryptocurrency-based predictions market has been placed on the Customs and Monopolies Agency’s (ADM) list of blocked websites.
The blacklisting effectively labels Polymarket as an unregulated gambling operator, placing its name alongside offshore betting firms unlicensed in Italy.
This is company Polymarket likely won’t be happy about being lumped in with, as the platform has long maintained that its product is a form of financial services and not a form of betting.
Italian betting welcomes Polymarket block
Italy is one of Europe’s biggest betting markets, with gross gaming revenue (GGR) of €333.7m in December 2025 alone. This revenue came just one month after Italy launched a new regulatory regime with 46 online licence holders.
As with other major regulated betting markets, Italy has found itself dealing with the conundrum of predictions – and whether or not platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are illegal gambling or not.
The ADM seems to favour the former argument, and its decision to block Polymarket for the second time has been welcomed by Italian betting leadership, such as Stefano Tino, Managing Director of Betsson’s Southern Europe operations.
“I was pleased to learn that Polymarket has now been added, again, to the ADM blacklist of unauthorised gambling websites in Italy,” Tino wrote on LinkedIn.
He added: “I would like to congratulate the Italian regulator for reaffirming what I believe is a fundamental principle of every regulated market: the same rules must apply to everyone.”
Polymarket was first blocked in Italy in late 2025, but the ADM permitted the site to resume operations in December following legal proceedings before the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) of Lazio.
Now that it has decided to block the firm once again, the ADM needs to submit a report to the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office to outline any potential criminal proceedings.
Operators like Betsson and bet365 will likely hope that the block will stick this time. One major stakeholder who may be a little more concerned, however, is Serie A football club SS Lazio.
Is Lazio facing penalties due to Polymarket?…
Polymarket signed a deal with Lazio, one of the two Serie A clubs in Rome alongside AS Roma, as the club’s main partner in April 2026.
The deal covered the remainder of the 2025/26 Serie A season, followed by the 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons, and included an option to extend for the 2028/29 season.
Perhaps most crucially for Lazio, the deal cost Polymarket US$22m (€19m/£16m). The club had been without a main sponsor for nearly three years, so securing a deal with one of the world’s two biggest prediction platforms – the other being Kalshi – was a big revenue boost to the club.
With Polymarket now effectively declared an illegal gambling operation, Lazio may be forced to abandon the deal as advertising unlicensed betting is prohibited under Italian penal law.
Betting sponsorships have also been outright banned in Italy since the 2018 ‘Dignity Decree’ on gambling marketing.
The betting industry, football clubs, and other elements of the Italian football ecosystem – including a recent candidate for presidency of the Italian Football Federation (IFF) – have been calling for the decree to be reversed for the sake of club finances for some time.
Some football clubs and betting operators found ways to continue working together, via deals with operators ‘infotainment’ or media brands, such as Napoli and bet365 Scores and AS Roma and Eurobet.live.
Polymarket and Lazio now find themselves facing this same dilemma, though it could be much worse for the duo now that Polymarket is blocked and fully unauthorised in Italy.
Betsson’s Tino wrote: “Licensed operators invest significant resources to obtain and maintain their licences, comply with AML and responsible gambling obligations, implement consumer protection measures, undergo continuous regulatory oversight and contribute substantial tax revenues.
“It is only fair that they compete on a level playing field.
“A regulatory decision should have consistent consequences across the entire legal framework. Otherwise, the market receives mixed signals.”
Polymarket sailing rough regulatory seas
The predictions firm is chasing a valuation of $15bn, up from its current valuation of $9bn while chasing its arch rival Kalshi’s valuation of $22bn – but both firms, and predictions in general, are facing the regulatory music across a number of markets:
- Nine European gambling regulators formed a “predictions market monitoring coalition” ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
- Spain’s DGOJ has accused both Kalshi and Polymarket of operating without licences.
- France’s ANJ has made it clear that predictions are illegal in its jurisdiction and has compared the platforms to the risks of cryptocurrency trading.
- South Korea’s KISC is also closely monitoring Polymarket, but has given the firm a right to respond before fully blocking it as Italy, France, Belgium, Portugal and Singapore, to name a few, have done.
The situation is a little more favourable to predictions in the US, where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is firmly on their side in lengthy legal battles with several US states pursuing action against the platforms.
Gibraltar, one of Europe’s most important gambling hubs, is also setting itself as a focal point for the predictions space.
The British Overseas Territory has granted betting intermediary licences to FIFA World Cup predictions partner ADI Predictstreet and US firm WagerWire’s new predictions proposition.
However, the continuing regulatory challenges from the likes of Italy show that most national regulators are a fair way away from accepting predictions and investor confidence is also far from rock solid.
On the other hand, this doesn’t appear to be impacting Polymarket and Kalshi’s valuations – with the latter dead set on achieving a $40bn one soon.