TLDR
- India blocked Kalshi on June 17, 2026, after classifying event-based trading as illegal online gambling under new 2025 gaming laws.
- Kalshi updated its member agreement to ban users located in India following a formal warning from India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- India had been a high-value market — one domestic cricket match alone generated over $27 million in trading volume.
- Kalshi now lists 55 restricted jurisdictions, including Brazil, Spain, Indonesia, Argentina, and Portugal.
- The core dispute is whether prediction markets are financial instruments or gambling platforms — a debate regulators outside the US are largely settling against Kalshi.
Prediction market platform Kalshi has blocked users in India after the country’s new online gaming law came into force, adding another major market to its growing list of restricted jurisdictions.
India’s Online Gaming Law Shuts the Door
India’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 took effect on May 1, 2026. The law targets digital platforms that offer money-based games tied to uncertain outcomes — a category Indian authorities say includes event-based trading platforms like Kalshi.
On April 25, 2026, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology sent Kalshi a formal notice. It warned the company that continuing to allow Indian users to trade on the platform would violate the new rules.
Kalshi did not immediately restrict access on its own. In response, Indian authorities ordered internet service providers to block Polymarket, Kalshi’s main competitor, and warned VPN providers against helping users get around the ban.
Facing potential national blacklisting and legal risk for payment processors, Kalshi updated its member agreement on June 17. The new terms explicitly bar users based in or domiciled in India from trading event contracts.
A Costly Market to Lose
India was not a minor market for Kalshi. A single domestic cricket match on the platform generated more than $27 million in trading volume, showing the scale of engagement from Indian users.
Losing that access is a direct hit to Kalshi’s international growth plans. The platform has been working to position itself as a mainstream retail financial product in markets beyond the United States.
India is not alone. Brazil blocked Kalshi in April 2026, calling its political and economic contracts unlicensed gambling. Spain opened disciplinary proceedings in late May and ordered domestic internet providers to block the platform.
Indonesia, Argentina, and Portugal have also imposed similar restrictions in the past six months. In 2026 alone, more than 10 national governments have introduced bans or major limits on prediction market platforms.
Kalshi now has 55 jurisdictions on its restricted list.
The Classification Debate
The central issue is how prediction markets should be defined. In the United States, Kalshi operates legally under the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a designated contract market.
Kalshi argues its contracts — covering geopolitical events, economic data, and climate outcomes — serve a financial hedging function. The company says this makes them fundamentally different from casino-style gambling.
Regulators outside the US have broadly rejected that argument. Their position is that placing money on the outcome of a future event is gambling, regardless of the subject matter.
That disagreement has made Kalshi a test case globally. With India now closed and the restricted list at 55 jurisdictions, the platform’s international expansion continues to face mounting pressure.
