France Blocks Polymarket Citing Illegal Gambling and Manipulation Concerns

France's Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), the National Gambling Authority, has instructed internet service providers to block access to the decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket from French territory. This decision, made on July 16, 2026, and announced on Friday, July 17, 2026, is based on concerns that the platform offers illegal gambling services and poses risks of market manipulation. ISPs are now mandated to cease access to the Polymarket website.

This move escalates a previous regulatory action from November 2024, when the ANJ banned financial transactions from French accounts to Polymarket. However, despite this prohibition, interest in the platform did not wane; instead, French visits reportedly surged to 578,751 and 205,057 unique users in June. The ANJ stated that the mere display of real-time market prices to French citizens constitutes illegal advertising. Promoting unauthorized gambling sites is a criminal offense, carrying potential fines of up to €100,000.

The regulator voiced concerns that users could be exposed to significant gambling losses and that some wagers offered on the platform could be manipulated. A notable incident supporting these concerns occurred in April 2026, when Meteo-France, the French national weather agency, filed a criminal complaint alleging that one of its weather probes was hacked in an attempt to manipulate weather-related bets on Polymarket. Furthermore, the ANJ cited the platform's lack of Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification as a problem.

Prediction markets like Polymarket are increasingly under global regulatory scrutiny. These platforms allow users to bet on the outcomes of various events, from political elections to sports matches, using cryptocurrencies such as USDC on the Polygon blockchain. However, regulators argue that such binary “yes” or “no” contracts serve no economic purpose and could be detrimental to the public interest, calling for tighter oversight.

France's action is part of a broader global trend, following Spain's temporary ban on Polymarket and Kalshi in May, and the U.S. derivatives regulator's release of new draft regulations for the burgeoning prediction markets industry in June. Many other countries, including Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Ukraine, Australia, and Colombia, have also blocked or restricted access to Polymarket. Polymarket is currently geoblocked in 36 regions.

The ANJ indicated that Polymarket would remain blocked until it complies with French gambling regulations. This situation highlights the ongoing global regulatory uncertainty surrounding decentralized finance (DeFi) and prediction markets. Investors and platforms will need to closely monitor the diverse approaches taken by different jurisdictions. The use of tools like VPNs to bypass geo-blocking remains another challenge for regulators.