France's National Gambling Authority (ANJ) has ordered internet providers to block access to Polymarket on July 16, treating the platform as an illegal gambling site rather than a financial trading venue. The regulator cited addictive mechanics, a lack of self-exclusion tools, and a high volume of French users bypassing previous financial restrictions as key concerns. The ANJ's president instructed French internet providers to block Polymarket entirely, calling the platform's offering illegal and noting that Polymarket attracts a particularly large audience while promoting an illegal gambling and betting offering. This latest action follows similar restrictions introduced in France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Romania, and the Netherlands, with the Czech Republic also joining the enforcement pattern. Fines can reach 100,000 euros ($114,380) for violations, as the regulator warned that previous restrictions had failed to keep French users off the platform.
Despite being banned, restricted, or blocked across much of Europe, Polymarket's trading volumes have been surging to record highs, boosted in part by World Cup-related activity that draws large European audiences. The platform drew 578,751 visits from 205,057 unique visitors in France in June, according to Similarweb data cited by the ANJ, despite a ban on financial transactions in place since November 2024. A VPN was sufficient to bypass previous restrictions, with the regulator noting that "the site's homepage, which dynamically displays real-time odds for various events open to betting, thus serves as a major channel for disseminating and promoting Polymarket's offerings." The French ban does not reach bettors abroad, but it signals regulators are no longer willing to wait for prediction markets to police themselves. The split shows a clash between wary regulators and Polymarket, with regulators worried about consumer harm while Polymarket insists its contracts serve legitimate price discovery, not gambling.
France's stance hardened in February 2026, when the ANJ reclassified prediction markets as illegal gambling, citing addictive mechanics and the absence of stake limits and self-exclusion tools. The ministry determined that Polymarket operates without the licenses required under Czech gambling law, as the platform processes bets through smart contracts on a blockchain rather than licensed gambling operators. The platform's structure continues to clash with national gambling frameworks, functioning as a decentralized exchange that settles in the USDC stablecoin rather than through licensed local operators. Contract settlement is based on real-world outcomes, which incentivizes traders to influence those events or trade using non-public information—essentially 'insider trading' in prediction markets. The ANJ also flagged "some bets appeared to be rigged" and that weather sensors linked to certain markets "may have been hacked." French prosecutors opened a cybercrime investigation on May 4, with the case assigned to the Office for Combating Cybercrime, after a complaint from France's weather service, Météo-France, over a tampered temperature sensor tied to weather-based bets. A Stanford-led study identified possible incentives for settlement-price manipulation, estimating that about $1.28 million shifted from regular traders to more sophisticated participants in five-minute Bitcoin prediction markets.
The French decision follows similar restrictions introduced in France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Romania, and the Netherlands. Outside Europe, regulators in New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil have also taken action against prediction market platforms. In May, India blocked access to the platform after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology directed internet service providers and VPN operators to restrict access to prediction market websites classified as illegal online money gaming platforms. Argentina also ordered a nationwide block in May after a Buenos Aires court concluded that Polymarket operated outside the country's gambling framework, citing consumer protection concerns, crypto-based payments, and identity verification standards. The Institute said restrictions across the EU have expanded in recent months, with pressure intensifying this month after Italy re-added Polymarket to its blocked list and Dutch authorities rejected the platform's appeal. Polymarket is now restricted in more than 30 jurisdictions, with the platform blocked in Switzerland (November 2024), Poland, Singapore and Belgium (early 2025), Portugal (January 2026), and Spain (May 2026).
Despite being banned, restricted, or blocked across much of Europe, Polymarket's trading volumes have been surging to record highs, boosted in part by World Cup-related activity that draws large European audiences. The platform settles all contracts in USDC, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, and processes bets through smart contracts on a blockchain rather than licensed gambling operators, allowing it to avoid traditional gambling operator requirements. Polymarket's live market prices France at 67 cents to beat England, implying roughly a 67% chance for Les Bleus in today's third-place playoff. The regulator also pointed to a French trader known as 'Fredi9999,' who moved U.S. election odds with multimillion-dollar positions in 2024, highlighting concerns about market influence. Last year, the country blocked 1,290 gambling-related URLs and joined a widening list of countries cutting off Polymarket, with the ministry's blacklist currently covering thousands of websites. The ANJ said it would continue monitoring Polymarket and any measures introduced to verify users' identities and locations before they can access its services.
