France orders country's internet service providers to block Polymarket

France orders country's internet service providers to block Polymarket

Policy

France orders country's internet service providers to block Polymarket

The regulator cited concerns over addictive mechanics, a lack of self-exclusion tools, and a high volume of French users bypassing previous financial restrictions.

By

Francisco Rodrigues

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Jul 18, 2026, 9:52 p.m.

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France’s gambling regulator ordered internet providers to block Polymarket, classifying it as an illegal gambling site rather than a financial trading platform.

The regulator cited concerns over addictive mechanics, a lack of self-exclusion tools, and a high volume of French users bypassing previous financial restrictions.

France joins over 30 countries that have restricted Polymarket, following complaints regarding weather-related bets and a prominent French trader's market influence.

France's gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ),

ordered

internet service providers to block Polymarket on July 16, treating the prediction market as an illegal gambling site rather than a financial trading venue.

The ANJ said earlier restrictions had failed to keep French users off the platform. Polymarket drew 578,751 visits from 205,057 unique visitors in France in June, according to Similarweb data cited by the regulator, despite a

ban on financial transactions

in place since November 2024. A VPN was enough to bypass it.

The homepage remained accessible, allowing users to view live markets and odds. The ANJ said the real-time odds display promoted an unauthorized gambling service.

"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, even though the site's operations are not authorized in France," the regulator wrote. Fines can reach 100,000 euros ($114,380).

Polymarket didn’t immediately respond to a comment from CoinDesk.

The ANJ also cited a

complaint from France’s weather service

, Météo-France, over a tampered temperature sensor tied to weather-based bets, prompting the Paris prosecutor's cybercrime unit to open an investigation on May 4.

It also pointed to a French trader

known as "Fredi9999,"

who moved U.S. election odds with multimillion-dollar positions in 2024.

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.

Last year, the country blocked 1,290 gambling-related URLs and joined a widening list of countries cutting off Polymarket, which is now restricted in more than 30 jurisdictions. Switzerland blocked the site in November 2024, followed by Poland, Singapore and Belgium in early 2025. Portugal moved in January 2026, and

Spain issued a temporary block in May pending a probe

. Brazil, Argentina, India and Indonesia have also acted, as have Italy, Germany, Romania, Hungary and

Ukraine

.

Polymarket

AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to

our standards

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For more information, see

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