Europe’s First Prediction Markets Summit Heads to Gibraltar as New Rules Take Effect

Eventus International will host the industry gathering in November, choosing a jurisdiction that has just introduced what it says is the world's first dedicated prediction-market regulatory regime.

Europe's first dedicated prediction-markets summit will take place in Gibraltar on November 9–10, placing the industry's regulatory debate in one of the few jurisdictions to have created a formal licensing route for prediction-market operators.

Eventus International announced Prediction Markets Summit Europe on Monday, bringing regulators, platform operators, investors, legal experts and technology companies to Gibraltar for two days of industry discussion and networking. Eventus' prediction-market summit series is focused on regulation, taxation, technology, market integrity and investment across the emerging sector.

The choice of Gibraltar comes as the British Overseas Territory moves more directly into prediction-market regulation.

On July 13, Gibraltar's Prediction Market Regulations 2026 came into force, creating a separate regulatory category for prediction-market activity. Under the new rules, prediction markets operating within the framework are not treated as betting, gaming or a lottery solely because of the characteristics of prediction-market activity.

Gibraltar's government has described the framework as the first dedicated regulatory regime for prediction markets globally.

The regulations prohibit operators from self-certifying markets and give supervisors powers to suspend contracts. Markets must be clearly defined and designed against manipulation, while contracts involving areas including death, serious injury, terrorism, war and criminal conduct can be prohibited. The framework also expressly allows digital asset payments, including stablecoins, for account funding, collateral, settlement and withdrawals.

Gibraltar moved before the framework was ready

Gibraltar had already started licensing the sector before the dedicated regulations took effect.

Predict Street Ltd, trading as ADI Predictstreet, received approval in March under Gibraltar's existing Gambling Act 2005 and was licensed as a betting intermediary. Minister for Justice, Trade and Industry Nigel Feetham later told Gibraltar's parliament that the licence had been processed in record time and described prediction markets as a potential area of substantial growth for the jurisdiction.

The platform subsequently became FIFA's official prediction-market partner for the 2026 World Cup and has since received approval to expand its offering beyond football markets.

WagerWire has also received approval in principle in Gibraltar for its prediction-market subsidiary, with additional applicants expected as the jurisdiction builds out the sector.

The regulatory direction contrasts with much of Europe.

Gibraltar's approach comes as European authorities continue to grapple with where prediction markets fit within existing legal categories.

On July 3, the European Securities and Markets Authority said whether an event contract qualifies as a financial instrument depends on the underlying event question. Where an event contract is a financial instrument, ESMA said it is a derivative and, because of its binary outcome, falls within existing national product-intervention measures on binary options. ESMA also acknowledged that event contracts may qualify as bets under national gambling law.

National regulators have taken different positions.

France's Autorité Nationale des Jeux said in February that prediction-market platforms are not authorised in France and are considered illegal gambling services. Britain's Gambling Commission, meanwhile, has said current prediction-market models would generally appear to fall within the country's betting intermediary framework, depending on the specific business model.

A summit in the middle of the regulatory experiment

Prediction Markets Summit Europe will address regulatory classification, cross-border licensing, market integrity and the role of technologies including blockchain and artificial intelligence, according to Eventus International.

That makes Gibraltar more than a venue for the event.

The jurisdiction is now running one of the industry's clearest regulatory experiments: whether prediction markets can be supervised as a distinct category without simply treating them as conventional gambling or forcing them into an existing financial-market framework.

The new regime does not give Gibraltar-licensed operators automatic access to other European markets. Different national regulators continue to classify prediction markets differently, and Gibraltar's own regulatory briefing acknowledges there is no settled international consensus on how the products should be characterised.