Nevis launches dedicated prediction market licence through its Online Gaming Authority

Nevis, part of the Caribbean federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, has started offering its own licensing regime for prediction markets. The Nevis Online Gaming Authority (NOGA), which oversees gambling in the territory, announced the new product.

NOGA already regulates a system that stops residents from taking part in iGaming but permits B2B and B2C licences for international operations. The Nevis Prediction Market License is now added to that offering. It is open to consumer-facing operators as well as technology and service suppliers that want to enter the sector under a dedicated licence.

The licence recognises binary and multi-outcome markets tied to a range of event types: sports, financial and economic indicators, political and electoral events, entertainment, weather and climate, and crypto movements and digital assets. NOGA said the framework will draw on its existing standards for corporate due diligence, customer safety and anti-money laundering compliance, with the aim of protecting market integrity and preventing manipulation.

Nuri Katz, Chief Executive Officer of NOGA, said regulatory approaches need to reflect how these platforms operate and the risks they carry. He said the dedicated framework is intended to give businesses more clarity while keeping market integrity and participant protection central to licensing.

NOGA's position is that prediction markets have characteristics distinct from traditional online gambling products, a view that remains contested wherever the subject arises. In the United States, where Kalshi and Polymarket are the best-known platforms, the products fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and are treated as separate from gambling. That status is being challenged by states including New York, Arizona and Utah, with Utah having recently filed criminal charges against Kalshi after Arizona accused the company of running an illegal gambling operation.

The picture is also mixed in Europe. Gibraltar became the first jurisdiction to create a prediction market framework earlier in 2026, while 11 other EU member states are moving away from the products. Against that backdrop, small island jurisdictions such as Nevis, and self-governing communities such as Canada's Tobique First Nation, are emerging as licensing options with limited domestic political resistance.