The Polymarket frenzy, that started to bubble up around the last U.S. Presidential elections, is starting to hit snags in its global expansion. In a fresh development, Portugal has levied a ban on Polymarket citing a flood of bets on potential outcome of the ongoing presidential elections.
Portugal’s Gaming Regulation and Inspection Service (SRIJ) has reportedly deemed Polymarket as illegal for operating in the country while also instructing the predictions market to immediately cease its operations there.
As per local reports, bets worth EUR 103 million were roped-in on Polymarket around the election held on January 18.
Source: Rádio Renascença/ Polymarket
Coinciding with the polls, António José Seguro, from the Portugal’s Socialist Party, emerged victorious in the first round of the elections. He will now face opposition leader André Ventura in a runoff ballot on February 8.
As per the SRIJ, Polymarket is not licenced to operate as a betting service provider in Portugal. The government agency said Polymarket caught its eye in light of recent events where a sweeping number of nationals placed bets on the electoral polls.
Since 2015, the country has reportedly maintained a rigid restriction on gambling activities around political or real-world events.
As of now, Polymarket has not addressed the situation. As per Coindesk, the 2020-founded platform is facing varying degrees of restrictions in over 30 countries including Italy and Russia among others.
Earlier this month, Ukraine blocked access to Polymarket citing violations of the local licensing regulations.
The blockchain-based platform, headquartered in New York City, lets users bet on the outcomes of topics ranging from finance to politics and crypto to sports among others. In its predictions market space, Polymarket competes with Kalshi and PredictIt among others.