Brazilian authorities have ordered 27 prediction market platforms to be blocked, naming services such as Kalshi and Polymarket among those affected. The action, announced Friday, followed a directive from the Ministry of Finance and was carried out by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel). Officials say the platforms operate outside Brazil’s existing legal framework and are therefore illegal.
Finance Ministry executive secretary Dario Durigan said regulators have been watching the sector’s growth, which “suffered a period of anarchy” between 2018 and 2022 due to a lack of rules and oversight, comments he made at a press conference at the Palácio do Planalto.
The move accompanies Resolution 5.298 issued by the National Monetary Council (CMN). That rule, which takes effect in early May, sharply narrows the types of contracts permitted on prediction platforms. Contracts tied to sports, politics, entertainment or social events will be banned because authorities view them as closer to gambling than to financial investments. Only contracts linked to economic indicators—such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rates or commodity prices—will remain allowed and come under financial-market supervision.
Durigan warned the services can deepen household indebtedness and pose risks to users, saying regulators must prevent new forms of harmful debt at a time when they are working to reduce borrowing pressures on families, small businesses and students.
Authorities provided a list of affected platforms that mixes international and Brazil-focused services. Major names cited include Kalshi, Polymarket, PredictIt, Robinhood (via its forecasting feature) and Fanatics Markets. Other platforms listed are ProphetX, Hedgehog Markets, Novig, Polyswipe, PRED Exchange and Stride, along with Brazil-focused sites such as Palpita, Cravei, Previsao and MercadoPred.
Regulators globally have increasingly moved to restrict or ban prediction markets, often treating them under gambling or financial rules. Several European countries, including France, Belgium and the Netherlands, have taken action against unauthorized platforms. In the United States the regulatory landscape remains mixed, with tensions between federal authorities and some states over how to classify and oversee prediction markets.
Brazil’s latest measures aim to bring prediction-platform activity under clearer rules and financial oversight and to limit offerings that regulators say resemble gambling and can expose consumers to financial harm.