Polymarket is going to court in France after the country's National Gambling Authority, the ANJ, ordered internet service providers to cut off access to the entire platform. The company says the block is disproportionate: French users have been unable to trade since November 2024, yet the ANJ still pushed to block the site outright, preventing even casual visitors from reading market probabilities.
That last point is what Polymarket finds most objectionable. In a statement, the company said it was "surprised at the ANJ decision to block access to our entire website because their measure targets people going to Polymarket purely for information." The platform claims the majority of its visitors never place a trade at all. They come to check the odds on elections, weather events, or economic outcomes, then leave. Cutting that off, Polymarket argues, is a censorship of publicly useful information rather than a gambling crackdown.
The deeper legal fight is about classification. Polymarket insists its contracts are blockchain-based financial instruments, not gambling products. Prices are set by peer-to-peer market activity, with no centralized operator taking the other side of a bet or profiting from event outcomes. French regulators see it differently: the ANJ cited unauthorized gambling services, inadequate identity verification, and suspected manipulation in weather-related markets as reasons for the block.
France is not alone. Ukraine moved first in January, Argentina followed in March, and Spain blocked both Polymarket and rival platform Kalshi in May. Brazil, India, and Indonesia have also imposed restrictions. The pattern points to a widening regulatory front against prediction markets, with each country applying its own legal rationale but arriving at the same practical result: ISP-level blocks that shut out ordinary users.
The French court challenge could set a precedent. If Polymarket wins on the argument that viewing market data is legally distinct from gambling, it would complicate regulators' ability to justify blanket website blocks across Europe. If it loses, the current wave of ISP-level bans gets a formal legal endorsement.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or legal advice.
