France Moves to Block Access to Polymarket
The Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), France’s national gambling regulator, has ordered internet service providers to block access to the prediction market platform Polymarket. The mandate follows a persistent struggle by French authorities to curb the site’s reach, as the regulator maintains that Polymarket operates as an unauthorized gambling service in violation of national law.
Escalating Enforcement Efforts
The ANJ’s decision to mandate ISP-level blocking comes after earlier efforts to restrict the platform proved insufficient. In November 2024, the agency initiated a ban on financial transactions between French residents and the Polymarket platform. Despite these restrictions, the ANJ reports that the platform continued to see significant engagement from within France.
Data provided by the ANJ reveals the scale of the challenge: the platform recorded 578,751 visits from French IP addresses in June 2024, with 205,057 of those classified as unique visits. The regulator states that users have been bypassing existing financial blocks to continue participating in the site’s prediction markets. Under current French regulations, entities found advertising unauthorized betting or gambling services face penalties of up to 100,000 euros.
Global Scrutiny of Prediction Markets
France is not the only jurisdiction currently scrutinizing decentralized prediction markets. In Spain, the government has moved to block access to both Polymarket and Kalshi while it conducts a formal investigation into whether these platforms comply with national gambling legislation.
The regulatory environment in the United States remains similarly complex. In Minnesota, state legislators passed a bill specifically intended to ban prediction markets from operating within its borders. Other states are currently pursuing legal action against these platforms, citing concerns over the classification of these markets as unregulated gambling rather than legitimate financial instruments.
The Conflict Over Legal Definitions
The core conflict involves the legal definition of “betting.” While platforms like Polymarket describe their services as prediction markets—where users trade shares based on the probability of real-world events—regulators like the ANJ categorize these activities as unlicensed gambling.
Because prediction markets involve users risking capital on binary outcomes, they fall under the purview of national gaming authorities in many European countries. These agencies require platforms to obtain specific licenses to operate, which include strict requirements for consumer protection, tax compliance, and anti-money laundering protocols. As these platforms grow in popularity, regulators are increasingly using ISP blocking and financial transaction filtering to enforce these licensing requirements.
Summary of Regulatory Status
- Regulatory Body: The Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) oversees gambling in France.
- Enforcement Action: ISPs in France are now required to block user access to the Polymarket domain.
- Financial Penalty: Advertising unauthorized gambling services in France can result in fines reaching 100,000 euros.
- Regional Trends: Spain is currently investigating both Polymarket and Kalshi, while several U.S. states have introduced legislative or legal challenges to block such platforms.