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Türkiye has blocked access to online prediction market platform Polymarket, citing "illegal betting," Turkish media reported Monday.
According to the reports, the platform was blocked under a decision by the General Directorate of the National Lottery Administration dated July 16, 2026, and numbered 2026/10.
EngelliWeb, a Turkish platform that tracks access-blocking decisions, said the restriction had begun to be implemented.
Polymarket is one of the best-known cryptocurrency-based prediction market platforms, allowing users to bet on the outcomes of future events, including elections, sports competitions, economic developments and other current affairs.
The platform gained major global attention during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, when prediction markets tracking the race drew wide interest and Polymarket's trading volume increased sharply.
Launched in 2020, Polymarket is a decentralized platform where users trade on the likelihood of real-world outcomes by buying and selling "Yes" or "No" shares tied to specific questions.
Transactions on the platform are primarily carried out using the stablecoin USDC on the Polygon network.
Prediction markets allow participants to trade on whether future events will occur, with contract prices reflecting the market's estimate of an outcome's probability.
Many international media outlets have also used probability data from prediction markets alongside public opinion polls in their election coverage.
Türkiye's access block has raised uncertainty over whether Polymarket-related services will remain available through local platforms.
Paribu, a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange and digital asset platform, recently announced plans to integrate Polymarket into its platform, offering users local access to prediction markets through its decentralized finance (DeFi) section.
Following Türkiye's access-blocking decision, no official statement has been issued on the future of that integration.
Paribu had said prediction markets were increasingly being used as real-time indicators of developments in geopolitics, macroeconomics and culture.
The company cited TRM Labs data showing that monthly transaction volume in the sector rose from $1.2 billion in early 2025 to more than $20 billion by January 2026.
Polymarket has also drawn regulatory scrutiny in several other countries.
France's betting regulator, the National Gaming Authority (ANJ), said Friday that it was blocking access to Polymarket, arguing that the platform amounted to unauthorized gambling rather than a prediction market.
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The decision followed a November 2024 ban on financial transactions involving the site.
The ANJ said Polymarket's continued availability in France, where betting odds on different events were updated in real time, constituted advertising.
"Advertising, by any means whatsoever, in favour of an unauthorised betting or gambling site is a criminal offence," the regulator said, adding that fines could reach 100,000 euros, or about $114,000.
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