France’s national gambling regulator, ANJ, has ordered all internet service providers in the country to block Polymarket, a prediction platform that lets users place crypto-denominated bets on real-world events.
The order was formally issued on July 16, marking a sharper turn in a four-year regulatory fight. French authorities framed the issue around harm to ordinary users rather than risk to financial-market order.
France classifies Polymarket as illegal gambling
In this case, regulators did not describe Polymarket as an unlicensed crypto exchange. Instead, they placed it in the category of illegal gambling operations, alongside unlicensed online casinos and sports-betting platforms.
That distinction matters because it changes both the legal basis and the enforcement tools available to authorities. It may also influence how regulators elsewhere in Europe handle similar platforms.
Payment restrictions did not stop traffic
France had already moved in November 2024 to ban domestic users from conducting fund transfers with Polymarket, but the measure had limited effect. ANJ cited data from traffic analytics platform Similarweb showing that Polymarket recorded 205,057 unique visitors in France and 578,751 total visits in June 2026 alone.
According to the regulator, users could get around transfer restrictions by using a virtual private network, or VPN. That led authorities to conclude that direct domain blocking was the only effective control measure.
Two lines of investigation cited by regulators
French authorities also pointed to two separate enforcement leads.
- Météo-France filed a complaint alleging that temperature sensor data had been tampered with in order to manipulate weather-related prediction contracts on Polymarket. The cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on May 4.
- Regulators are also reviewing a French trader using the account name “Fredi9999.” The report said the trader used large positions to alter odds tied to the 2024 U.S. presidential election markets.
French watchdog had already relabeled the sector in February
Back in February 2026, ANJ had already reclassified this type of prediction market as illegal gambling. Its reasoning was that such platforms lack the safeguards required of licensed gambling operators in France, including betting limits and self-exclusion tools for users. In the regulator’s view, that leaves consumers without adequate protection.
More than 30 countries and territories have imposed restrictions
France is not acting alone. The report said more than 30 countries and territories worldwide have already imposed controls on Polymarket.
- Switzerland blocked the site in November 2024.
- Poland, Singapore and Belgium followed with restrictions in early 2025.
- Portugal introduced controls in January 2026.
- Spain issued a temporary blocking order and opened an investigation in May 2026.
Brazil, Argentina, India, Indonesia, Italy, Germany, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine were also listed as jurisdictions that have adopted related restrictions.
A potential test case for the European Union
The article described France as the largest economy in the European Union and the first member state to require nationwide ISP-level blocking of the site. Official documents repeatedly referred to addictive features and consumer harm, language the report said closely matches the wording used in other gray-area gambling cases, including loot-box regulation.
The broader question is whether this standard spreads across the EU. France is treating prediction markets as gambling rather than as financial instruments or information services, creating a clear tension with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, or MiCA.
If other member states adopt the same reasoning, crypto prediction markets could face bloc-wide bans under gambling law instead of being regulated through financial-market rules.
Implications for Kalshi’s European ambitions
The report also pointed to Kalshi, the U.S. prediction market platform regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC. Kalshi is continuing to expand its U.S. institutional business and had previously made plans tied to the European market.
If the EU ultimately classifies these platforms as gambling products, that expansion path would face a major obstacle. The issue would not only be whether European users can still access the service, but whether the platform’s regulatory identity and brand positioning in Europe would diverge fundamentally from its U.S. business.
What French regulators do next may matter across Europe
At this stage, the report said, France is functioning as a regulatory test sample for the European Union. If ISP blocking leads to a steep drop in domestic traffic, and if the Météo-France data-tampering case results in prosecution, other EU regulators are likely to study the case closely when designing their own responses.