Czech internet service providers have been given less than two weeks to comply with a prohibition order issued against US prediction markets giant Kalshi.
The country’s Ministry of Finance announced on 30 September that Kalshi has been added to the official list of unauthorised gambling operators in the Czech Republic.
Under Czech law, ISPs are required to block affected websites within 15 days of a prohibition order’s publication date.
This means that users in the Czech Republic will lose conventional access to Kalshi on Thursday, 15 October 2026, once the deadline expires.
The decision against Kalshi follows a similar prohibition order that was issued in July against Polymarket, its main rival in the prediction markets space.
Czech authorities maintain the position that prediction markets are betting offers that market themselves as investment tools, a view shared by regulators in Belgium, France, Romania, Spain, and Germany, among others.
Kalshi’s operations in the Czech Republic were brought to the attention of authorities by the Czech Institute for Gambling Regulation, known as the IPRH, which represents more than 90% of the regulated gambling sector in the country.
IPRH Director Jan Řehola commented on the significance of the move, drawing a direct line back to the earlier action taken against Polymarket.
Řehola said: “When Polymarket was added to the list, we said that it was an important precedent, not the end of the matter. The inclusion of Kalshi shows that this approach is now being reflected in practice.”
The back-to-back prohibitions signal a clear and consistent regulatory stance from Czech authorities toward prediction market platforms operating without a local licence.
Kalshi has grown rapidly in recent years, positioning itself as a legitimate financial exchange for event contracts, though European regulators have largely rejected that framing.
The broader European regulatory environment continues to tighten around prediction markets, with multiple jurisdictions now treating them as unlicensed gambling products rather than financial instruments.
For operators eyeing expansion into Central and Eastern European markets, the Czech crackdown serves as a firm warning that prediction market models face significant legal headwinds across the continent.
