France's ANJ orders ISP block on Polymarket after two-year gambling probe

The French gambling regulator, ANJ, has instructed internet service providers to restrict access to the prediction market platform Polymarket, concluding that the site constitutes illegal gambling under national law. The blocking order, issued on Thursday, follows a two-year investigation into Adventure One, Polymarket’s parent company.

Investigation and previous measures

The ANJ’s attention first fell on Polymarket in November 2024, when the regulator issued a formal warning. The operator responded by implementing a geoblocking system intended to prevent French IP addresses from making transactions, but the ANJ found that this measure still allowed widespread access and could be easily circumvented. According to data cited by the regulator, Polymarket attracted 578,751 visits and 205,057 unique French visitors in June 2026 alone, highlighting the limited effectiveness of the voluntary restrictions.

Regulatory concerns

Under French law, prediction markets are treated as games of chance and are not authorised. The ANJ flagged multiple risks, including the potential for addiction and compromised market integrity in the absence of regulation. Specific markets, such as those tied to weather data, raised suspicions of data manipulation, prompting the Paris public prosecutor’s cybercrime unit to open an investigation on 4 May 2026, which was assigned to the Office Anti-cybercriminalité (OFAC). The regulator also criticised Polymarket for failing to implement robust know-your-customer (KYC) procedures to verify user identities—a requirement under both French and European regulations.

Promotional activity and penalties

The public display of real-time odds on Polymarket’s homepage was deemed promotional activity for unlicensed gambling. Under French law, such promotion carries a maximum fine of €100,000 ($114,347). This is not the first time the ANJ has used administrative blocking powers; in 2025, the regulator reported blocking 1,290 URLs linked to illegal gambling services. Separately, last week the ANJ fined an unnamed online betting operator, referred to as Company X, €500,000 for failing to adequately identify and support customers showing signs of problem gambling.

Wider European crackdown

The French action is part of a broader European trend. Regulators in countries including Germany, Belgium, Romania, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic have all recently imposed restrictions or blocks on similar prediction market platforms. Nine European regulators have announced a joint initiative targeting unlicensed prediction markets, citing concerns about 24/7 accessibility with no mandatory betting limits or cooling-off periods, which increases the risk of gambling harm, especially among younger users. In contrast, the Gibraltar government last week unveiled a formal framework to enter the prediction markets vertical, adopting an “activity-based and risk-based approach” to regulation.