Predict Street: Who Is the Gibraltar Licensed Prediction Market for the 2026 World Cup

Gibraltar has officially listed Predict Street as a licensed betting intermediary (B2C), making it the first officially regulated prediction market in Europe. Furthermore, Predict Street is branded as the official prediction market sponsor for the 2026 World Cup, which not yet been confirmed by FIFA. It would be a simple write off for a site that has not fully released yet (it will go live after April 9), and that has no name yet in the ever expanding world of prediction markets. But that Gibraltar gambling license is a clear sign of intent from the Abu Dhabi based parent company, ADI Chain.

Should this become the official prediction market for the World Cup, it comes well in time for soccer fans to start compiling their outright winners, golden shoe, and other futures bets. More information regarding the prediction market itself, and where it will be allowed to operate are expected to be revealed in the coming days and weeks, and this news comes at a pivotal time for Gibraltar. Because, officially from April, it has entered a gambling regulatory reset, having reformed its licensing framework and tightened its compliance rules to compete with the UK and Europe. Plus, Gibraltar is bracing for the impacts of the UK remote gambling tax increase from 21% up to 40%, which is bound to hit the mainly UK-facing gambling jurisdiction.

Who is Predict Street

The prediction market, PredictStreet.io, states that it is the official prediction market of the FIFA 2026 World Cup, which, if true, means this platform will get extremely busy within a short space of time. Run by ADI Chain, an Abu Dhabi blockchain tech company, at the time of writing Predict Street is a blank canvas. It just shows a countdown until April 9, and you can apply for early access, with rewards such as match tickets up for grabs. It requires an email address, full name, and for you to select your country of residence. Clicking on that, and you will find Predict Street isn’t just for the US, Europe, or UK, but it lists out virtually every country.

But there is little information provided about the legal availability or products to offer. It would normally raise lots of suspicion, but Predict Street has a trust-winning ticket here, an intermediary betting license from a tier 1 gambling regulator.

The licence was granted on March 26, and it is listed on the Gibraltar gambling authority’s site, so this is a fully registered platform. We don’t really know what the services will look like, but Predict Street Limited will be a crypto-based prediction site, with sports betting-style trades for the upcoming soccer World Cup. That alone is enough to pique a soccer bettor’s interest, let alone whether or not this will truly be the official prediction market partner. Right now, FIFA has loads of sponsors, including the likes of Lenovo, Adidas, Aramco, Coca Cola and Budweiser, among many more. But there is no one de facto sports betting partner. The majority of the competition will be hosted in America, so betting partners could involve DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, or any other major brand – or a consortium of multiple brands.

Prediction markets are under legal fire right now, though if any did manage to come through and link up with the World Cup, you’d imagine a major brand like Kalshi or crypto-first Polymarket beating the competition. Predict Street is, let’s face it, an intriguing proposition at best.

Importance of Gibraltar Betting License

But that betting licence is proof enough that this is a legitimate business. Gibraltar is undergoing major gambling reforms to shift to the 2025 Gambling Act. Basically, this requires operators to become more compliance driven, align with AML and transparency models, and live up to the ever rising European bar for iGaming. Though it is not actually a part of the EU, not since Brexit. Its European influence has diminished greatly, and operators in Gibraltar must obtain licences in European countries to be able to serve them.

A historically UK facing jurisdiction, Gibraltar has also come under threat from the tightening UK gambling laws, the new iGaming tax hikes, and the imminent sports betting tax hikes. Many of its operators, including the likes of 888, Bet365, BetFred, Boylesports, LiveScore Bet, and Sky Bet, among many others, have been stalwarts in the UK betting and iGaming scene. The remote gaming duty tax rise, from 21% to 40% from April 1 of this year will hit them hard, and sports betting will see a similar rise, from 15% to 25% from the upcoming April, in 2027.

With its reforms, Gibraltar is seeking to establish itself as a more independent player, catering to brands that could target European or UK shores. The standards will be raised, but operators would need to obtain secondary licences, and pay tax abroad too, to gain access to these markets. Predict Street obtain a betting intermediary licence, which last year the UK Gambling Commission stated would be the way the UK classifies prediction markets. They would be, for the purposes of the law, be branded as betting exchanges – although they don’t strictly meet all of those conditions.

Who Predict Street Would Be For

Given that Gibraltar is now positioning itself to fall somewhere between UK and European facing markets, the big question is which of these is the intended audience for Predict Street. The World Cup will be held in the US, Canada and Mexico, Predict Street is run by an Abu Dhabi company, and it has a Gibraltar licence. To throw another spanner in the works: prediction markets are legal in the US but sports related markets are facing legal battles, they are not officially legal anywhere in Europe, and in the UK they are classified as betting intermediaries. It raises lots of questions.

How Predict Street Would Run in the US

America already has prediction markets, the US audiences know it well and most associate it with sports betting, and they are legal in the US. As the main hosting nation for the World Cup, this is the obvious target here. Predict Street would have to compete against established platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, but if we get an official statement from FIFA that they are in fact the main prediction market sponsors, it will open a lot of doors. This would give Predict Street the publicity it needs, and the sponsorship could open the doors to niche and alternative event contracts for the big event.

However, they would need to obtain a Designated Contract Market (DCM), from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Only platforms with these credentials can operate legally in the US. And then there is the other matter. The big legal standoff between state authorities and prediction markets regarding sports-style trades. State authorities argue vehemently that these are masked sports bets, and should therefore be regulated (and taxed) directly by the state. The prediction markets argue that they are not sports wagers, and that the platforms are legally regulated by the CFTC, a federal agency.

It would only take one federal court to turn on sports-style contracts to create havoc here, and throw the entire industry into contention. But even if that does happen, the chances of such a move coming before the imminent World Cup, and getting resolved, is not large. These procedures usually take weeks, and the World Cup is not that far off.

Impact in a Fragmented European Market

Europe has massive untapped potential, and just this week we covered a story on Malta considering regulating prediction markets. Right now, there is no unifying stance on these products, and most European courts either ignore prediction markets or ban/block them. These are really an American phenomenon, and while European bettors are catching on, regulators are measuring their steps here. Defining these platforms is the trick. Classifying them as sportsbooks seems the easier path, as then they would come under the regulation of the iGaming and sports betting gambling authorities.

But prediction markets are not sportsbooks, nor are they betting exchanges. Those gambling authorities don’t have the expertise or precedent to deal with the financial derivatives, margin and leveraged products that prediction markets have to offer. Categorizing these as financial instruments is also risky, because they greenlight the platforms to operate broadly, and don’t really acknowledge the gambling element to them (requiring player safety, responsible gambling tools, and so on).

Nonetheless, Europe isn’t going to simply ignore prediction markets. Regulators and Finance Ministries are looking closely into the matter, and if any are to breakthrough, it would most likely be the parties like Malta, Cyprus or Gibraltar, who target mainland EU or UK markets.

A Prediction Market for UK Soccer Fans

Predict Street has a betting intermediary licence, which ticks the box for the UK Gambling Commission. So long as it pays its duties, gets the additional UK permissions, and doesn’t break any marketing or player protection rules, this seems the obvious market. They will not be treated exactly like sportsbooks but more like a hybrid model, a mixture of financial exchange trading and betting.

The UK has a massive industry for sports betting, and if Predict Street becomes the first prediction market introduced to the scene, it has the potential to run riot. Betting exchanges are already available in the UK, but prediction markets have a completely different style of peer to peer trading. What’s more, their popularity in the US can hardly be ignored, and with alternative betting style trades coming to the UK, this could be another massive market.

Prediction Markets and the Soccer World Cup

The FIFA World Cup is one of the biggest events in world sports, and the month-long competition attracts seriously a massive soccer betting frenzy. These are virtually impossible to calculate, as we aren’t talking about 1 country, like we would for the Super Bowl and March Madness betting handles. No, this is very much a global participation, and operators from all over the world see a sizable activity surge in the weeks before and during these prestigious events.

Commentators have estimated that the global World Cup betting handle can range anywhere above $140 billion for the entire competition. That is, the equivalent of $2 billion every game.

• 2014 Brazil World Cup: $140-$150 billion
• 2018 Russia World Cup: $160 billion
• 2022 Qatar World Cup: $150-$180 billion

And Qatar, the host nation, doesn’t even have legal betting. To spice it up more, this World Cup will be the first to feature 48 nations instead of 32, and there will be a total of 104 games instead of 64. Taking that $2 billion per game average (which is at least 4 years old), and that comes up to $208+ billion. Whatever the case, this World Cup is already a historic event, and it will most likely shatter historic betting handles. If Predict Street even “just” targets the UK, or random EU countries or a handful of states, and is named official prediction market sponsor, it will be a part of that history.