Polymarket lobbies Europe to treat prediction markets as financial products, not gambling
Polymarket is lobbying European regulators to classify prediction markets as financial services rather than gambling.Summary
Polymarket, a US-based prediction market platform, has been meeting with UK and European regulators—including the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Commission—to argue that prediction markets should be regulated under the EU-wide MiFID financial services rules rather than gambling laws, which fall under individual member states' jurisdiction. This lobbying effort comes as Polymarket seeks to expand its presence in Europe, where prediction markets are currently banned for retail investors, while the prediction market sector has been growing rapidly in the US. The article also contextualizes the broader regulatory struggles in the US, where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversees prediction markets, but numerous states have pursued legal action against providers. In July, New York sued prediction market platform Kalshi, alleging it ran an "illegal gambling operation," following similar suits against Coinbase Financial Markets and Gemini Titan. States including Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Washington, as well as several California native reservations, have filed lawsuits to limit prediction market activities. The CFTC has pushed back by ordering Kalshi to continue operating and filing lawsuits against the states to prevent enforcement against CFTC-regulated companies.
(Source：Finextra)