European Lotteries, the association of state-owned and licensed lottery operators across Europe, has called for harmonised regulation of prediction markets. In a statement released on 30 September, the organisation flagged the rapid growth of these products and consumer protection risks.
EL is concerned about the popularity of event contracts — binary-payout instruments tied to the outcome of future events such as elections. These products create regulatory gaps when supervisors fail to keep pace. Secretary general Piet Van Baeveghem said activities with similar risks should be subject to the same safeguards, and that the nature of the product matters more than the label or technology. The association insists on technology neutrality: blockchain, smart contracts and tokenisation should not change the regulatory approach.
Event contracts classified as financial instruments in the EU fall under MiFID II. Others are subject to national gambling laws. EL notes that financial-instrument status does not exempt a product from gambling requirements, leading to fragmentation. In July the European Securities and Markets Authority acknowledged that some event contracts may fall under gambling regulation or the forthcoming MiCA framework.
France, the Netherlands and Spain have already restricted platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi. Nine European regulators launched a joint initiative against unlicensed venues, targeting round-the-clock access without stake limits or cooling-off periods. The exception is Gibraltar, which published a framework under the Gambling Act 2025 this summer, establishing prediction markets as a separate licence category.
