Lithuania Blocks Polymarket: Access and Payment Orders

Lithuania blocks Polymarket through separate website-access and payment instructions after its gambling regulator found that the prediction market offered betting without the required local authorization. The public record starts with an August 24, 2026 court ruling, before the regulator’s September 8 announcement and the later wave of trade coverage.

The dates behind the block

LPT’s illegal-operator list records a Regional Administrative Court ruling dated August 24, 2026, under case eS-17030-983/2026. It also identifies the LPT director’s September 2 updating order, DIE-314, and a blacklist dated September 3, NLV-20. The list names Adventure One QSS, Inc. alongside polymarket.com.

Those references establish the documented sequence. The full court ruling and director’s order were not reviewed for this article, so their wording should not be inferred from the blacklist alone. LPT’s September 8 announcement supplies the regulator’s account of its investigation and the instructions issued.

English-language coverage appeared in Global Gaming Insider on September 9. Further reports followed from Public Gaming Research Institute (PGRI) on September 16, SBC News on September 17 and PressGiochi on September 18. The later reporting dates should not be mistaken for the date of the court action.

The public dates also leave an implementation gap: they do not establish the moment every internet or payment provider applied the restrictions. A court ruling, a regulator’s announcement and a user encountering a blocked page are different events.

What the access and payment instructions cover

According to LPT’s announcement, communications service providers received binding instructions to block access to the Polymarket website. Payment service providers received separate instructions to stop transactions with Adventure One QSS, Inc., the operator identified in the official list.

The website instruction concerns whether a connection to the site is allowed through the relevant provider. The payment instruction concerns transactions with the named operator. A page loading successfully would not, by itself, answer whether a payment can be processed or whether the service has Lithuanian authorization.

Lithuania already used access and payment restrictions against unauthorized remote gambling. LPT’s December 2022 warning described DNS blocking, which interferes with the process of resolving a website’s address, alongside payment blocking. The Polymarket case applies that existing enforcement approach to a prediction market.

LPT described Polymarket as the first prediction-market site added to Lithuania’s list. That is a claim about Lithuania’s enforcement record; it does not establish a European first.

Why LPT treated the prediction market as betting

LPT said its investigation found that visitors could register, deposit money and predict the outcomes of real events using predetermined odds. Participants could win or lose the money they deposited. The regulator considered those features characteristic of betting and said the activity lacked the required Lithuanian license or permit.

The regulator’s explanation turns on how the service worked for participants. Calling the product a prediction market did not resolve the local licensing question. LPT’s notice describes a gambling enforcement finding and blocking measures; it does not announce a criminal conviction or a fine in this case.

At the time of its announcement, LPT said it had blocked 2,204 illegal remote-gambling websites. That figure describes the regulator’s broader blocking activity, rather than a count of prediction markets or evidence that every listed domain was unreachable on every network.

What remains unclear for users in Lithuania

Polymarket’s geographic-restrictions Help Center page and developer documentation did not list Lithuania when checked on September 20. The Help Center page was dated August 14, before the recorded court ruling. The reviewed pages do not explain the omission.

A platform’s published country restrictions and a national regulator’s instructions operate separately. The omission therefore does not overturn LPT’s finding or establish that Polymarket is legally available in Lithuania. The reviewed documents also do not provide a comprehensive test of access across Lithuanian networks.

The announcement does not explain how existing balances or withdrawal requests will be handled. It provides no basis to promise that withdrawals remain available, or to claim that balances have been confiscated. LPT’s general guidance also warns that it cannot protect winnings claims involving unlicensed foreign gambling operators.

How Lithuania fits into European enforcement

Other national authorities have acted separately. France’s ANJ announced Polymarket blocking on July 17 following an order dated July 16. Spain’s DGOJ announced proceedings and precautionary blocking against Polymarket and Kalshi on May 26. Spain’s announcement describes an interim measure during proceedings; it does not establish their final outcome.

Dyutam’s coverage of the French and Irish approaches to prediction markets and Dutch action against Polymarket provides further national context. These cases involve their own regulators and legal procedures.

ESMA’s September 2026 risk report likewise describes classification as dependent on a product’s features and the applicable financial, crypto-asset or national gambling framework. Lithuania’s action does not create an EU-wide ban. Readers comparing jurisdictions can also consult Dyutam’s guide to Polymarket’s legal status in Europe; this article provides the documented Lithuanian enforcement update.

FAQs

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Sources

• Polymarket blocking announcement, September 8, 2026 — Lithuanian Gambling Supervisory Authority (LPT)
• Illegal gambling operators list, including court and order references — LPT
• Regulator’s warning regarding illegal online offers, December 5, 2022 — LPT
• Illegal gambling: enforcement and consumer protection — LPT
• Geographic Restrictions — Polymarket Help Center
• Geographic restrictions documentation — Polymarket
• France probes Robinhood; Lithuania blocks Polymarket, September 9, 2026 — Global Gaming Insider
• Polymarket blocked in Lithuania, September 16, 2026 — Public Gaming Research Institute
• Lithuania Polymarket report, September 17, 2026 — SBC News
• Lithuania orders Polymarket blocked, September 18, 2026 — PressGiochi
• Blocking of the Polymarket website, July 17, 2026 — France’s National Gambling Authority (ANJ)
• Proceedings and precautionary blocking of Polymarket and Kalshi, May 26, 2026 — Spain’s Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ)
• TRV Risk Monitor, September 2026, pages 50–51 — European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)