Spain’s gaming regulator has blocked Polymarket and Kalshi services to local users “as a precautionary measure” as authorities there respond to allegations that prediction market platforms are violating gambling laws.

On Tuesday, the Spanish Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) he said the country’s Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and the 2030 Agenda initiated legal proceedings against both companies because they appeared to be operating without the necessary licenses. The DGOJ issued an order blocking Spanish users’ access to Kalshi and Polymarket until the resolution of the proceedings, which is expected to take place within three to four months.

“DGOJ would like to remind the public that in Spain, as in other European jurisdictions, prediction markets are considered games of chance, where bets are placed on uncertain future outcomes,” reads Tuesday’s notice. “Therefore, operating such markets on Spanish territory requires obtaining a special administrative license.”

Source: Spanish Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda

The move by Spanish authorities follows a similar ban by the government in Indonesia, which on Friday blocked access to Polymarket after bets appeared on the platform on whether President Prabowo Subianto would leave office before the end of his term. Other countries, including Australia, France, Poland, Singapore, Ukraine and Switzerland, have restricted access to Polymarket over gambling concerns, with platforms also facing crackdowns and restrictions at the US state level.

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A Polymarket spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the platform is “committed to working constructively with the appropriate authorities in each jurisdiction.” A spokesman for Kalshi declined to comment.

Kalshi and Polymarket are the two largest prediction markets platforms in terms of trading volume, with a combined weekly trading volume of $6.1 billion, According to to the DeFi course.

The NYT report sheds featherlight on the U.S. federal government’s response to forecast markets

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that officials at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) were fired from the agency after they raised concerns about forecast markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

The financial regulator, led by US President Donald Trump’s pick Michael Selig, has taken the position that the CFTC has “exclusive authority” over platforms, filing lawsuits against any government body that disputes that position.

Market Size Forecast: Aggregated Kalshi and Polymarket Data. Source: DeFi rate

Lawmakers on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced Friday that they had launched an investigation into Kalshi and Polymarket over concerns about insider trading. Committee chairman James Comer cited reports of “suspicious transactions” on the platforms ahead of U.S. military action against Iran, which allowed some users to potentially profit from confidential information.

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