France’s independent gambling regulator, the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), has ordered domestic internet service providers (ISPs) to implement a nationwide block on the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket. The sweeping administrative order shifts enforcement from minor transaction-level restrictions to total network-level censorship. Under strict French statutes, prediction web systems fall directly under the legal definition of unauthorized gambling when they combine financial stakes, chance, and public payout expectations. Furthermore, the ANJ reiterated that marketing or publicly displaying live odds from an unlicensed platform constitutes a criminal offense, carrying potential corporate fines reaching €100,000 ($114,380).
The decision represents the culmination of a multi-year dispute. The ANJ initially flagged the cryptocurrency betting giant in late 2024, enforcing localized transaction barriers. However, those early perimeter defenses proved ineffective. According to telemetry data monitored by the regulator, Polymarket generated over 578,000 total sessions and attracted 205,000 unique French visitors in June alone, largely driven by users employing basic VPN workarounds to bypass payment gateways. The platform’s homepage also continued to display dynamic, real-time betting odds to incoming French web traffic, which the ANJ interpreted as active distribution of an unapproved gambling service.
Market Integrity Failures and Sensor Hacks
Beyond the threshold issue of operation without a domestic gambling license, French authorities revealed significant systemic vulnerabilities regarding trade execution and underlying market integrity. The ANJ distinctly emphasized that Polymarket lacks the protective safety boundaries, consumer protection standards, and self-exclusion mechanisms required within the legal French betting market.
More critically, the authority explicitly warned that multiple high-stakes event contracts appeared structurally compromised or rigged. The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office deployed its specialized cybercrime division to open an investigation following anomalies in localized weather data pools. Investigators uncovered evidence suggesting that remote physical meteorological sensors at domestic airports may have been actively tampered with or hacked. This digital compromise directly benefited specific accounts betting on immediate local weather fluctuations, netting suspected actors sequential payouts of $14,000 and $20,000.
Broader European and Transatlantic Crackdown
The enforcement action by the Paris prosecutor’s office similarly targeted deep compliance deficits in the platform’s user onboarding infrastructure. The ongoing investigation verified a comprehensive lack of robust user identity verification, specifically noting that mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) screening frameworks were non-existent for incoming traffic. The ANJ stated that the domain block will remain fully active across French networks until the company introduces verifiable geographical fencing and strict KYC identity validation protocols.
France’s assertive stance reflects a widening regulatory fracture across the European continent and transatlantic markets regarding decentralized binary contracts. Neighboring Spain recently instituted matching temporary blocks against both Polymarket and Kalshi during active licensing probes, while the Czech Republic implemented parallel ISP-level blocklists.
Concurrently, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is evaluating whether complex event-driven prediction instruments should be reclassified as financial derivatives under MiFID II. If codified, this shift would subject decentralized protocols to severe retail distribution bans originally drawn up for high-risk binary options. With the addition of France, Polymarket now registers active geoblocking restrictions across 36 global sovereign territories, compounded by local US state lawsuits contesting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) primary oversight over event contracts.
