The country’s gambling authority has ordered providers to block access to the prediction market website.
France is doubling down on preventive measures for its citizens trying to gain access Polymarket. The National Gaming Authority (ANJ), the country’s independent regulatory body responsible for licensed gambling and betting, announced this week that it had ordered internet service providers to block access to Polymarket.
The ANJ’s latest decision follows the previous one regulatory action since November 2024, which has placed a geoblock for any financial transactions of French residents on the Polymarket website. Despite the ban on transactions, the agency said the platform continued to thrive in France thanks to users bypassing the block. According to ANJ, in June Polymarket registered 578,751 visits, 205,057 of which were unique, from residents of France. ANJ now wants to crack down more heavily on Polymarket, reiterating that the platform is considered an illegal gambling site.
Under the ANJ’s latest move, anyone caught promoting an unauthorized betting or gambling site could be fined up to €100,000, or about $114,000. In the neighboring one Spainthe government also ordered that access to both Polymarket and Kalshi be blocked while it investigates whether the sites are in violation of the country’s gambling laws. In the US, Minnesota passed a bill that prohibits prediction markets from operating in the state, while another states file lawsuits against Polymarket and Kalshi.
