France’s national gambling regulator has ordered internet service providers to block access to Polymarket, ruling that the cryptocurrency-based prediction platform promotes an illegal gambling service. The decision follows concerns about significant user losses, inadequate consumer protections and the possibility that events used to settle wagers could be manipulated.
Regulator escalates enforcement
The Autorité Nationale des Jeux, known as the ANJ, issued the blocking order on 16 July. French internet providers must prevent users from accessing Polymarket for as long as the platform remains non-compliant with national gambling regulations.
France previously restricted financial transactions between domestic accounts and Polymarket in November 2024. The platform also introduced measures intended to prevent French users from placing new bets, but traffic from the country continued to increase.
Polymarket reportedly received 578,751 visits from French internet addresses during June, including more than 200,000 individual users. The ANJ concluded that continued access to the site and its display of live betting probabilities constituted promotion of unauthorised gambling.
Advertising an unlicensed gambling or betting service is a criminal offence in France and can produce fines of up to €100,000.
Prediction market or gambling platform
Polymarket allows users to purchase contracts based on whether a future event will occur. Markets cover elections, sport, economic data, weather, entertainment and geopolitical developments.
Prices move according to supply and demand and are presented as the probability of an outcome. Winning contracts are settled using cryptocurrency once the relevant event has been resolved.
Supporters describe prediction markets as information tools capable of combining the knowledge and expectations of many participants. Regulators in France consider the financial structure equivalent to gambling, regardless of whether the platform presents its contracts as trading products.
The distinction is becoming increasingly important as prediction platforms expand and attract users accustomed to financial markets, online betting and cryptocurrencies.
Manipulation concerns strengthen the case
French authorities have also raised concerns about wagers whose outcomes may be vulnerable to interference.
Météo-France filed a police complaint earlier this year after unusual temperature readings at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport coincided with profitable Polymarket bets. Temperatures recorded by airport equipment rose unexpectedly on two occasions while humidity fell sharply.
Newly created cryptocurrency wallets had reportedly placed substantial wagers on unusually high temperatures shortly before the readings changed. One small initial position generated a profit exceeding $20,000.
Investigators are examining whether someone interfered with the weather station to influence the settlement of contracts. No final determination has been announced, but the case demonstrated how prediction markets can create incentives to manipulate the underlying data.
Consumer safeguards remain central
The ANJ said Polymarket’s structure could expose users to substantial and repeated losses. Regulators have also criticised the absence of protections normally required from licensed French operators, including effective identity controls, betting limits and self-exclusion systems for vulnerable users.
Polymarket did not immediately comment on the latest French order.
France joins a growing group of countries restricting prediction markets. Spain temporarily blocked Polymarket and rival Kalshi in May while investigating whether they were operating without gambling licences.
The dispute illustrates the regulatory challenge facing prediction markets globally. Their technology resembles financial trading, but their economic purpose and user behaviour frequently resemble conventional betting. Until that classification is resolved, platforms such as Polymarket are likely to face further national blocks and increasingly strict licensing demands.
Newshub Editorial in Europe – 19 July 2026
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