France Blocks Access to Polymarket Through ISP Order

France has instructed internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to the online trading exchange Polymarket on claims that the decentralized crypto-based prediction market has facilitated illegal gambling.

Last Friday (July 17), France’s National Gambling Authority (ANJ) ordered ISPs to prevent their customers from visiting Polymarket. The ANJ, an independent authority that reports to the French Parliament, is tasked with regulating all forms of legal gambling in the country and combatting illegal gambling.

Since March 2022, the ANJ has retained the administrative authority to instruct ISPs to block websites deemed to be operating illegal gambling. French authorities at the ANJ said in a release that the action follows a nearly two-year investigation into Polymarket that determined the website to be engaged in forms of gambling not authorized in France.

Prediction Markets Banned

While many other prominent prediction market platforms have voluntarily restricted access to consumers in France, Polymarket has not complied with the ANJ’s conclusion that prediction markets are considered illegal gambling.

In its statement clarifying its Polymarket decision, the ANJ questioned whether the prediction market’s contracts are without insider trading influence. The gaming regulator also raised concerns about Polymarket, being a decentralized crypto-based exchange, having appropriate tools in place to know their customers.

“Some of the bets offered on this platform appeared to be rigged: for example, bets on the weather revealed that weather sensors may have been hacked. An investigation into this matter was launched on May 4, 2026, by the cybercrime unit of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office and entrusted to the Office for Combating Cybercrime. This case revealed the absence, on the Polymarket platforms available to French and European users, of a user identification system to verify their integrity (known as KYC, or ‘Know Your Customer’),” the ANJ statement read.

The ANJ worried about escalating Polymarket traffic from within France, with 205,057 unique visitors making 578,751 visits in June alone.

“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. Advertising, by any means whatsoever, for an unauthorized betting or gambling site is a criminal offense,” the regulator explained.

Does France Have Online Gambling?

France does allow certain forms of online gambling through licensed, regulated platforms. The country’s permissible forms of internet gambling include sports betting, online poker, and parimutuel wagering on horse racing.

Online casino games, prediction markets, and peer-to-peer betting exchanges remain prohibited.