France's gambling authority has ordered ISPs to block the prediction market Polymarket, escalating a failed 2024 ban on financial transactions. The regulator now considers the site's mere accessibility as illegal advertising. The action follows an investigation into a trader's $30M bet and highlights a growing regulatory divergence, as the US moves to expand event trading while Europe cracks down on the platforms.
France ISP blocking order
- ▪The ISP block is an escalation of a November 2024 action where French regulators barred financial transactions from French accounts to Polymarket
- ▪In June 2026, Polymarket received 578,751 visits and 205,057 unique visitors from France, despite the earlier ban on financial transactions
- ▪France’s National Gambling Authority (ANJ) ordered the country’s internet service providers to block access to Polymarket on July 16, 2026
Illegal advertising legal theory
- ▪Under the ANJ's legal theory, the mere accessibility of Polymarket's website to French users constitutes a crime
- ▪France's National Gambling Authority (ANJ) now legally classifies the display of market prices to French citizens as a form of illegal advertising
- ▪Advertising an unauthorized gambling site in France is a criminal offense punishable by fines up to €100,000 ($114,000)
French whale investigation origins
- ▪France's National Gambling Authority (ANJ) opened its formal investigation into Polymarket in November 2024
- ▪The French crackdown on Polymarket began after a single trader bet approximately $30 million on the 2024 US presidential election
- ▪In response to the French investigation, Polymarket implemented IP-based geo-blocking, which users circumvented with VPNs
Insider trading cases
- ▪A U.S. soldier was charged with using classified information about an operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to win over $400,000 on prediction markets
- ▪On July 18, 2026, the White House suspended a teleprompter operator over allegations of placing bets on prediction markets
- ▪In April 2026, French weather agency Meteo-France filed a criminal complaint over a hacked weather probe used to manipulate bets on Polymarket
US-Europe regulatory divergence
- ▪The CFTC is developing new rules to expand event-contract trading in the United States
- ▪As of June 2026, Polymarket has generated over $1 billion in annualized revenue
- ▪The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has defended federally registered prediction platforms like Kalshi from state-level enforcement
Polymarket revenue despite bans
- ▪Polymarket's revenue is primarily generated from activities outside the more than 33 jurisdictions that have banned it
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