India blocks Polymarket under 2025 online gaming law

India blocked access to Polymarket, the prediction-market platform, in May 2026 under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025, citing the Indian newspaper ThePrint and a ministry official. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a blocking order against the platform. From the following day, users in the country attempting to reach polymarket.com encountered a browser error message.

The decision rests on the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025, passed by the Indian parliament in August 2025. The law prohibits online money games and their offering, advertising and associated financial transactions. The notifications bringing it into force took effect on 1 May 2026. The law also prevents banks and financial entities from processing payments to such platforms. The Indian authorities classify prediction-market activity as online money gaming and therefore as prohibited activity.

The technical block was handled under article 69A of the Information Technology Act, the same provision India used to ban TikTok, which allows internet service providers to be ordered to cut access to a site. Weeks earlier, on 25 April, the ministry sent a notice to virtual private network providers warning that users were still accessing "illegal and blocked online betting and prediction market platforms". Polymarket and Kalshi should have been taken out of service at that point but were still accepting registrations and transactions from India, according to the report. The same ministry source said the order against Kalshi was scheduled for 22 May.

The ministry official cited by ThePrint said prediction markets do not fit any of the categories the law covers: esports, social games without money or money games. Deepro Guha, an analyst at consultancy The Quantum Hub, said the classification was straightforward: "It is the definition of betting." Guha also warned that the main enforcement challenge is not virtual private networks but mirror pages, which can reappear with slightly different domains within weeks.

The Indian case adds to a list of countries that have closed the door to Polymarket on the basis that its activity is gambling. The platform remains blocked in Spain, and Norway has notified its blocking alongside that of operators including Stake and Betway. In the United States, 75% of citizens consider prediction markets to be gambling, according to the report.