France's National Gambling Authority ordered internet providers to block Polymarket last week, making France the fourth country to impose an ISP-level ban on the prediction market platform after Ukraine in January, Argentina in March, and Spain in May.
What the fight is actually about
Polymarket says it will contest the decision through French courts, calling the order disproportionate. The company's core argument: trading from France had already been disabled since November 2024, so the new block punishes users who visit the site purely to read market probabilities, not to place any bets.
"We were surprised at the ANJ decision to block access to our entire website because their measure targets people going to Polymarket purely for information," the company said in a press release. It added that most visitors come to check the probability of future events with no intention to trade at all.
The deeper legal dispute is about classification. Polymarket describes its contracts as blockchain-based financial instruments traded peer-to-peer, with prices determined by market activity. It also stresses that it does not take the other side of trades or profit from outcomes, which it argues sets it apart from a traditional gambling operator that sets odds and bets against its own customers.
France's case against the platform
The ANJ was not persuaded. The regulator said Polymarket remained accessible to French users even after trading restrictions were introduced, and that the site continued to promote what it considers an unauthorized gambling service. The authority also flagged concerns about inadequate identity checks and suspected manipulation of weather-related prediction markets.
Those three specific risks shaped the regulator's decision:
- Exposure to financial losses for retail users
- Insufficient identity verification procedures
- Suspected manipulation in weather-event markets
Brazil, India, and Indonesia are among other countries that have also restricted access to the platform. France's block goes further than the trading restriction already in place, targeting the entire site rather than just transaction functionality.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or legal advice.
