IG applies for UK gambling licence to broaden prediction markets

IG Group has applied for a UK gambling licence as it prepares to launch financial prediction markets for professional clients in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The company plans to expand into contracts on politics, entertainment and sports in early 2027 if the licence is granted. The plan was outlined as IG held its Capital Markets Event for investors and analysts on Oct. 22, 2026.

IG framed the move as part of a convergence of trading, investing and entertainment. Chief executive Breon Corcoran said the group was “well placed to capitalise on the opportunity.”

The initial financial products are explicitly aimed at professional clients, a significant distinction in the UK regulatory landscape. The Financial Conduct Authority has prohibited retail sales of binary options linked to financial and certain weather events since 2019, and has maintained that the restriction is appropriate because the contracts are speculative and may harm consumers.

The Gambling Commission says prediction markets allow participants to trade contracts based on financial, sports and political events. Depending on the model, operators in Great Britain would appear to meet the definition of a betting intermediary, while the products’ core features resemble a betting exchange. Commercial products that meet the statutory definition of gambling must be licensed by the commission.

Licensed operators must comply with rules on consumer protection, fairness, betting-market integrity and crime prevention. The commission has also said an operator launching in Great Britain cannot simply classify products as non-gambling, and that unlicensed firms should not target or transact with British consumers where an appropriate licence is required.

A broad UK prediction-market platform could therefore face separate regulatory issues: FCA permission for financial-event contracts and a Gambling Commission licence for sports and political markets. The FCA has held talks with trading platforms about potentially easing the financial prediction-market restriction for retail investors, according to The Times, as reported by CoinDesk, but its public position still supports the ban.

As covered in July, IG agreed to acquire Underdog, a US daily fantasy sports and prediction-markets business, subject to regulatory approvals. The company also said it intended to refresh its organisational model around three divisions: IG Consumer, IG Securities and tastytrade.

Betting exchanges have operated in the UK since 2000, whereas prediction markets are relatively new in the United States. Bernstein has forecast that total prediction-market trading volume would rise from $51 billion in 2025 to $240 billion in 2026, while UK consumers have increasingly accessed overseas platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, sometimes using virtual private networks that place them outside UK consumer protections.