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Polymarket plans to challenge France ISP block of its website
France’s gambling regulator ordered nationwide internet providers to block Polymarket after raising concerns about illegal gambling, potential user losses, identity checks, and suspected market manipulation.
CoinDesk reports that Polymarket will challenge France’s decision to impose an internet service provider, or ISP, block on access to its website. The company argues the order is unnecessary because trading from France has already been disabled since November 2024.
France’s National Gambling Authority said the platform continued to promote illegal gambling and cited risks including potential losses for users, requirements around identity checks, and concerns about suspected manipulation, including in weather-related markets. The regulator also characterized Polymarket as still accessible after trading restrictions were introduced.
Polymarket said the block is disproportionate because it covers visitors who use the site for information, including its market probability listings, rather than to trade. The company also said it planned to pursue the case through the French legal system.
The dispute centers in part on how Polymarket’s contracts should be classified. Polymarket describes them as blockchain-based financial instruments traded between users, with prices set by market activity, and it said it does not take the other side of trades or profit from market outcomes, differentiating its model from a gambling operator that sets odds and trades against customers. CoinDesk also notes that France is the latest country to order an ISP block, following similar actions in Ukraine, Argentina, and Spain.