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France orders ISPs to block Polymarket as illegal gambling
The gambling regulator said earlier restrictions failed, citing large June traffic to Polymarket in France and the continued ability to access live odds pages via VPN.
France’s gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), ordered internet service providers to block Polymarket, classifying the prediction platform as an illegal gambling site rather than a financial trading venue.
The ANJ said previous restrictions had not kept French users off the service. It cited Similarweb data showing Polymarket drew 578,751 visits from 205,057 unique visitors in France in June, even though financial transactions have been banned since November 2024.
According to the regulator, users could still bypass the ban with a VPN, and the homepage remained accessible. The ANJ said the dynamically updated, real-time odds display functions as a major channel to promote Polymarket’s offerings in France.
The regulator also pointed to concerns including addictive mechanics and a lack of self-exclusion tools, and it cited a complaint from Météo-France over alleged tampering involving a temperature sensor tied to weather-based bets. It also referenced activity by a French trader known as “Fredi9999” that it said shifted U.S. election odds with multimillion-dollar positions in 2024, and said fines can reach 100,000 euros.