In a landmark ruling for European iGaming oversight, a Romanian court has officially upheld the decision to maintain Polymarket on the country’s national gambling blacklist.
The judgment, delivered this week, rejected a legal challenge from the decentralized prediction platform that sought to suspend an earlier enforcement action by the National Gambling Office (ONJN), which classified the site as an unlicensed gambling provider.
A Definitve Victory for Regulatory Frameworks
The ruling of the Romanian court against Polymarket marks a significant moment for ONJN President Vlad-Cristian Soare, who has been a vocal advocate for closing the “prediction platform” loophole. Romania was among the first global jurisdictions to take a hardline stance against the crypto-based exchange, officially blacklisting it in October 2025.
Celebrating the court’s decision on LinkedIn, Soare stated:
“Today we achieved a first important victory in the case of Polymarket. The real stake is to protect the legal framework that regulates gambling and prevent a dangerous loophole: redefining betting under the seemingly harmless name of ‘prediction platform’.”
Soare emphasized that the intervention was necessary to prevent a “reckless precedent” where traditional counterparty betting could be reclassified as financial trading simply by changing its nomenclature.
The $600 Million Election Surge
The original 2025 ban was triggered by an unprecedented “explosive increase” in activity surrounding the Romanian presidential and local elections. Regulators detected cumulative trading volumes exceeding $600 million on the presidential race alone, with an additional $15 million flowing through markets for the Bucharest local elections.
The ONJN argued that because the platform allows users to stake funds on future outcomes and charges commissions, it functions as a gambling operator regardless of its blockchain architecture.
“Whether you bet in lei or crypto, if you bet money on a future outcome, under the conditions of a counterparty bet, we are talking about gambling that must be licensed. The ONJN will not allow the blockchain to be turned into a screen for illegal gambling,” Soare added.
Following Romania’s lead, ten other European nations, including France, Germany, and Italy, have since initiated similar blacklisting or regulatory actions against the platform, signaling a continent-wide shift toward stricter oversight of event-trading markets.
