A courtroom in Argentina has ordered a nationwide block of main crypto-based prediction market platform Polymarket over unauthorized playing.
Argentina’s nationwide communications and media regulator, Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones (ENACOM), obtained a courtroom order to dam entry to Polymarket web site and its variants throughout the nation, in response to a ruling dated March 11.
The order was issued by the Buenos Aires Courtroom of First Occasion in Legal, Contravention and Minor Offenses No. 31, which is investigating Polymarket underneath Argentina’s Legal Code for allegedly providing playing companies with out authorization.
The decide requested ENACOM to hold out the measure both instantly or by web service suppliers (ISPs) and to promptly inform the courtroom or the specialised playing prosecutor’s workplace if technical or different obstacles forestall full compliance.
Buenos Aires regulator initiated the case
In line with native media stories, the case was introduced by the Buenos Aires Metropolis Lottery (LOTBA), the state-owned firm that regulates playing actions within the metropolis.
After receiving a criticism from LOTBA about Polymarket’s alleged operation with out authorization, prosecutor Juan Rozas, accountable for the Metropolis’s Specialised Gaming Prosecutor’s Workplace (FEJA), opened the investigation that led to the courtroom order.
Authorities argued that Polymarket allowed customers to put bets with out ample id and age verification, elevating issues that minors may entry the platform.
“In observe, this meant that anybody — together with kids and adolescents — may entry and begin betting with none management,” the authorities reportedly mentioned.
Inflation bets deepen scrutiny
Along with instructing ENACOM to dam entry to Polymarket, the courtroom reportedly ordered Google and Apple to take away and limit the platform’s cellular purposes on Android and iOS all through Argentina, together with for current customers.
Social media stories point out customers are discussing workarounds reminiscent of VPNs, whereas observers notice that the order comes from a Buenos Aires metropolis courtroom somewhat than the nationwide authorities.
The motion provides to earlier Polymarket’s scrutiny after its inflation-related prediction markets carefully mirrored official information from Argentina’s statistics company, reigniting controversy over potential insider buying and selling, in response to native stories.
Polymarket didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Cointelegraph.
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Argentina’s motion is the most recent instance of strikes in opposition to prediction markets globally, with nations together with the Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal and Ukraine taking comparable steps to limit entry.
In Latin America, Colombia was among the many first to take motion, with its playing regulator reportedly warning about Polymarket’s unauthorized operations in September 2025.
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