France Orders ISPs to Block Polymarket Over Gambling Rules

France’s national gambling regulator, Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), has ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to the prediction market platform Polymarket. This action, announced Friday, follows the ANJ’s determination that Polymarket operates without authorization and offers features resembling illegal gambling.

What Happened

France’s Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ) has issued an order requiring internet service providers to block access to the prediction market platform Polymarket, according to Crypto Breaking News. The ANJ’s decision was outlined in a Friday press release, stating that prediction websites operating without authorization fall under illegal gambling regulations (Crypto Breaking News).

The regulator specified that advertising or promoting such unauthorized sites constitutes a criminal offense, carrying potential fines of up to 100,000 euros. This action escalates earlier warnings, reportedly following Polymarket’s alleged failure to comply with national gambling laws after the ANJ shared initial plans to block the platform in November 2024 (Crypto Breaking News).

Key Details

• The ANJ states that Polymarket’s operations are not authorized in France, classifying its offerings under illegal gambling rules (Crypto Breaking News).
• The regulator expressed concerns about Polymarket’s “addictive features,” which it claims are comparable to legally regulated gambling but lack the protective mechanisms found in the legal market (Crypto Breaking News).
• An investigation by the cybercrime unit of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office, opened in May 2026, reportedly identified a lack of identity verification safeguards, including Know Your Customer (KYC) checks (Crypto Breaking News).
• The ANJ also cited the risk of outcome manipulation, providing an example of alleged rigging involving bets tied to weather outcomes where weather sensors may have been hacked (Crypto Breaking News).
• Polymarket has reportedly been geoblocked in at least 36 regions globally, according to its own API documentation cited by Crypto Breaking News, including Singapore, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Ukraine, Brazil, and Indonesia.

Why It Matters

This regulatory action by France’s ANJ underscores a persistent global regulatory tension surrounding prediction markets, which operate at the convergence of gambling law, securities and commodities frameworks, and consumer protection regulations (Crypto Breaking News). The decision reflects a broader pattern of country-by-country enforcement against platforms that regulators classify as unauthorized gambling operations, even if the platforms frame themselves as market infrastructure for forecasting (Crypto Breaking News).

The ANJ’s focus on user protection and the absence of safeguards, such as consumer safeguards and oversight, highlights how regulators classify such products (Crypto Breaking News). The regulatory scrutiny extends beyond Europe, as evidenced by similar disputes in the United States, including a lawsuit filed by Kentucky against Polymarket and four other platforms for allegedly operating unlicensed sports betting, and a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) dispute concerning state-level interference with federally regulated event contracts (Crypto Breaking News).

What’s Next

As France implements the ISP blocking order, the market will observe how Polymarket and other affected platforms respond, particularly regarding adjustments to compliance, identity verification, and settlement-risk controls (Crypto Breaking News). There is an open question as to whether the broader trend will evolve from geoblocking to more formal legal resolutions in major jurisdictions (Crypto Breaking News).

Originally reported by Crypto Breaking News·Published 18 Jul 2026, 11:44