(AsiaGameHub) –   Irish financial and gambling regulatory bodies have launched a probe into unusual betting activity on Polymarket, which now outpaces conventional election betting and involves suspected money laundering as well as opaque cryptocurrency transactions.

Recently, The Irish Times released a report analyzing betting behavior linked to the Dublin Central by-election. The report calls attention to actions from certain accounts on prediction market platforms that placed wagers against candidate Gerry Hutch. It points to a large enough number of abnormal trading patterns to raise questions over whether the market is being used for its originally intended purposes.

The report made no mention of whether any election candidates or Gerry Hutch himself took part in this type of betting activity.

On the basis of this report and the anomalous betting activity on prediction market platforms, Irish Finance Minister Simon Harris has instructed relevant officials to launch a formal investigation.

Government concerns fall into two separate tracks. The first question is whether prediction markets run via cryptocurrency should be covered by gambling regulations, while the second, more serious issue looks into whether loosely regulated betting sites could create channels for money laundering or the concealment of other financial activities.

Harris frames this issue within the context of global shifts in online betting markets, particularly those related to cryptocurrencies and offshore betting. European policymakers are growing increasingly uncomfortable with the unclear positioning of these prediction markets across the gambling, financial speculation and unregulated derivative trading sectors.

This pressure has been building up within the EU for several months.