ACMA Hounds Prediction Markets, Says They Are Illegal Gambling

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is now set to treat prediction markets as illegal gambling, following in the footsteps of multiple jurisdictions around the globe.

The information, obtained by media outlet Crikey, indicates that ACMA investigated Polymarket, one of the world’s best-known and most prominent such marketplaces.

ACMA Confirms Polymarket Is a Form of Gambling – Not a Financial Product 

Upon reviewing Polymarket’s activities, ACMA concluded that the platform is more akin to gambling than to a traditional financial platform, making it ineligible to operate locally. 

In fact, ACMA argued that Australians who used Polymarket did not do so to make financial decisions, at least not as clearly defined by the country’s law. Rather, Polymarket’s markets were better described under the country’s gambling laws.

Without a license to operate a gambling venture, Polymarket is unable to continue servicing local customers. Between November 2024 and May 2025 alone, the company is said to have accepted more than 1.88 million visitors from Australia, which points to how popular the platform is.

Polymarket was also supposedly blocked in Australia back in August 2025, indicative of the follow-up action the regulator has taken against the platform.

Polymarket has experienced similar setbacks in France, Europe, and elsewhere, while resurging in the United States. 

However, the platform has also faced regulatory pushback in the Land of the Brave, after Nevada recently banned Polymarket in the state for two weeks, presumably to block it from accepting action on Super Bowl 60.

The platform has also faced criticism over its integrity and how effective it is in preventing insider trading from affecting its outcomes, most recently on markets regarding the downfall of the imprisoned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.