Who it’s for / iGaming operators

Does carrying event contracts drag my licence into a gambling fight?

It depends entirely on the contract reference and the jurisdiction, and it is your counsel’s determination. What we can tell you is that the control sits with you: categories switch off per market, and the position you take is yours.

Betting against event contracts

Mechanical differences
Dimension
Sportsbook
Event contract
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Mechanical description only. It is not an argument that any regulator will classify one as the other, and it is not legal advice.

The regulatory picture, as published

Three jurisdictions, three different questions. None of them answered by us.

We summarise what regulators have published so your counsel has the starting points. Everything below must be verified against the rules in force at the time you launch.

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Polyvatic is a technology, liquidity and growth vendor. We hold no gambling or financial-services licence on your behalf and you cannot operate under our permissions. Nothing on this page is legal or regulatory advice.

Containment

Four controls that keep this away from your core licence.

Most operators in your position launch inside a separate entity, in a limited set of markets, with financially-referenced categories switched off. The platform is built so that is a configuration rather than a rebuild.

See the controls ›

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Why bother

The commercial case, given you already have the audience.

You have the hardest asset to acquire in this category: verified, funded customers who follow events and are comfortable staking an opinion. What you do not have is an exchange, and building one is not a marketing project.

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Other segments

Same venue, different operators.
Who it’s for / iGaming operators

Does carrying event contracts drag my licence into a gambling fight?

It depends entirely on the contract reference and the jurisdiction, and it is your counsel’s determination. What we can tell you is that the control sits with you: categories switch off per market, and the position you take is yours.

Betting against event contracts

Mechanical differences
Dimension
Sportsbook
Event contract
Counterparty
The operator
Another trader, on a book
Price formation
Set by the operator
Set by matched orders
Exit before the event
Cash-out at operator discretion
Sell into the book at market
Operator position
Takes the other side
Takes fees, holds no position
Margin
Stake only
Stake only, fully collateralised
Settlement basis
Operator-determined result
Named source, fixed pre-listing

Mechanical description only. It is not an argument that any regulator will classify one as the other, and it is not legal advice.

The regulatory picture, as published

Three jurisdictions, three different questions. None of them answered by us.

We summarise what regulators have published so your counsel has the starting points. Everything below must be verified against the rules in force at the time you launch.

United Kingdom

Treated as gambling

The Gambling Commission said in February 2026 that it regards prediction markets as gambling requiring a licence, and that a sports or politics market would be betting-intermediary activity. Contracts on financial underlyings raise FCA perimeter questions instead.

Gambling Commission (Great Britain), February 2026
European Union

No single licence

ESMA’s July 2026 statement pulls financially-referenced event contracts into the MiFID II binary-options retail ban. Contracts on non-financial events raise national gambling-law questions, country by country.

ESMA statement, July 2026
United States

Four operator-side routes

Technology vendor, introducing broker via a guaranteed FCM, FCM, or DCM. Capital requirements run from none mandated to $5m or more, with timelines of one month to two years.

CFTC registration categories, as at February 2026

Polyvatic is a technology, liquidity and growth vendor. We hold no gambling or financial-services licence on your behalf and you cannot operate under our permissions. Nothing on this page is legal or regulatory advice.

Containment

Four controls that keep this away from your core licence.

Most operators in your position launch inside a separate entity, in a limited set of markets, with financially-referenced categories switched off. The platform is built so that is a configuration rather than a rebuild.

See the controls ›

Separate entity, separate wallet

Ctl 01

Run the venue in a ring-fenced entity with its own balances, so an event-contract question does not touch the licence your core business depends on.

Category matrix per market

Ctl 02

Politics, sport, macro and crypto switch on and off per jurisdiction, set by your compliance officer, effective on the next order.

Financially-referenced off by default

Ctl 03

The categories most likely to raise a securities or derivatives question start disabled. You enable them deliberately, on advice.

Full audit trail

Ctl 04

Every configuration change, surveillance alert and disposition logged with actor and timestamp, exportable for a regulator.

Why bother

The commercial case, given you already have the audience.

You have the hardest asset to acquire in this category: verified, funded customers who follow events and are comfortable staking an opinion. What you do not have is an exchange, and building one is not a marketing project.

Your customers are the scarce asset

Reason 01

Verified, funded, event-literate customers are what every prediction-market entrant is paying to acquire. You already have them.

A book behaves differently from a margin

Reason 02

You earn fees rather than holding the other side, which changes the revenue shape and removes the liability tail.

It answers the trading-product question

Reason 03

Many operators want a trading-adjacent product without becoming a broker. An exchange-listed event contract is closer to that than a CFD.

Sports is most of the volume

Reason 04

Bernstein puts sports at roughly 61% of sector volume — the category you understand better than any prediction-market startup does.

Sandbox credentials are available before contract.

Book the walkthrough and a solutions engineer takes your integration lead through the engine, the resolution policy and the commitment terms. One business day to reply.