Polymarket ban in Romania remains in force: ONJN classifies it as gambling
Polymarket remains blocked in Romania. A Romanian court has rejected the prediction market platform’s request to suspend the measure imposed by the National Gambling Office (ONJN), which had placed the company on its blacklist of unlicensed operators.
The decision, announced by ONJN President Vlad-Cristian Soare, does not necessarily bring the substantive legal dispute to an end. For now, however, it prevents the platform from neutralising the effects of the regulator’s action and strengthens the position of European authorities that regard contracts linked to future events as a form of betting governed by national gambling laws.
For the industry, the stakes extend well beyond Romania. At the heart of the dispute is whether a product can fall outside gambling regulation simply because it uses blockchain technology, stablecoins, variable pricing and an interface resembling that of a financial trading platform.
The measure adopted by the ONJN
The ONJN Supervisory Committee decided to add Polymarket to its blacklist of unauthorised operators on 29 October 2025. The measure was made public the following day and communicated to internet service providers, which were instructed to restrict access to the platform from within Romania.
According to the authority, Polymarket does more than just collect and reflect opinions about the likelihood of a particular event. Users put money at risk on a future outcome by purchasing positions as opposed to those taken by other participants. The platform manages the market and the subsequent settlement of the contracts.
The ONJN’s classification is based on this economic structure rather than on the technology involved. The authority argues that the model contains the defining elements of counterparty betting: a stake, an uncertain future event, the prospect of a payout and other users taking the opposite position.
“The decision is not about technology, but about the law,” Soare said when Polymarket was placed on the blacklist. In the regulator’s view, the use of cryptocurrencies or tokens does not automatically turn a bet into an investment.
The impact of Romania’s elections
The ONJN intervened after platform activity rose sharply during Romania’s elections.
Public figures cited by the authority showed a total trading volume of more than $600 million across markets linked to the Romanian presidential election. Prediction markets related to Bucharest’s local elections exceeded $15 million.
Trading volume should not be confused with the amount of money users deposit on a one-off basis. The same capital may be used in several transactions, while a position can pass from one participant to another before the event is settled. Even so, the figure illustrates the platform’s ability to attract interest and liquidity around a national political contest.
For the ONJN, activity on that scale made it difficult to regard Polymarket as a purely informational tool. The platform was serving demand comparable to that of betting products, but without holding a Romanian licence or operating within the country’s supervisory framework.
Why the suspension request mattered
Soare described the rejection of Polymarket’s suspension request as an initial victory for the authority. According to the ONJN president, allowing Polymarket to continue operating as a trading platform could have created a precedent for other businesses.
The regulator is concerned that products that are substantially comparable to betting could be redesigned and presented as prediction markets to avoid the obligations imposed on regulated gambling.
In Romania, those obligations include licensing, payment of sector-specific taxes, customer identification, anti-money laundering checks, self-exclusion systems, and reporting information to the relevant authorities. Operators must also comply with rules governing advertising and player protection.
The dispute therefore concerns the scope of the regulatory framework. When two products perform a similar economic function, but only one bears the taxation and compliance costs imposed on licensed operators, the result is a competitive imbalance that is difficult to justify.
Trading or betting: the classification dispute
Polymarket operates a model in which participants buy and sell positions linked to the outcome of an event. The price reflects the probability the market assigns to a particular outcome and changes based on users’ orders.
A position can be sold before the event is concluded. In form, this brings the product closer to a tradable instrument and distinguishes it from a traditional fixed-odds wager.
That feature alone, however, does not resolve the legal question. For the ONJN, the central issue remains that the final payout depends on an uncertain future outcome. The existence of secondary trading does not alter the nature of the underlying event or remove the risk assumed by the user.
The way the product is presented also matters. Describing users as “traders” and the activity as “making predictions” can place the product closer to the world of investment and weaken its association with gambling. This positioning may help attract customers who do not identify with the traditional betting audience.
For the Romanian regulator, however, commercial terminology cannot take precedence over the way the service actually operates.
Regulatory pressure is spreading across Europe
Romania is part of an expanding European regulatory front.
In France, the Autorité nationale des jeux examined Polymarket in November 2024 and concluded that the services it offered could constitute unauthorised gambling. Following the ANJ’s intervention, the operator introduced geoblocking measures preventing users in France from transacting on the platform.
In Spain, the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego opened enforcement proceedings against Polymarket and Kalshi in May 2026. The regulator also ordered the nationwide precautionary blocking of both websites, arguing that prediction markets based on uncertain future events constitute gambling activity and require administrative authorisation.
Italy has once again added polymarket.com to its updated list of blocked websites, dated July 2026. The measure issued by the Customs and Monopolies Agency requires internet providers to block access to the domain, which is considered to offer gambling services without the authorisations required to operate in the Italian market.
These decisions do not arise from a single European framework governing prediction markets. National authorities are applying their own definitions of gambling, betting and financial services. The result is a growing degree of convergence in enforcement, but not yet a harmonised regulatory system.
The consequences for operators and commercial partners
For licensed gambling operators, Romania’s approach reinforces the principle that economically equivalent products should be subject to comparable requirements.
A platform that enables users to stake money on sports, politics, or other events competes with bookmakers even when it uses a different infrastructure. When it does not bear the costs of licensing, sector-specific taxation, or investment in responsible gambling systems, the competitive landscape risks becoming uneven.
The exposure is not limited to Polymarket. Affiliates, sports organisations, media companies, data providers and payment service providers must carefully assess the platform’s regulatory status in each jurisdiction. A commercial agreement permitted in one market may prove problematic in another. Sponsorships, digital campaigns, and editorial integrations may be regarded as promoting unauthorised gambling when they reach users in countries where the service is prohibited.
Due diligence cannot, therefore, be limited to the brand’s global reputation. It must examine the specific contracting entity, the product being promoted, the licence held and the territory in which the promotional message is distributed.
This article was first published on the Italian SiGMA News page on 14 July 2026.
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