France's gambling regulator ANJ has ordered the country's internet providers to block access to Polymarket. The order took effect on July 16, 2026. The regulator officially classified the platform as an illegal gambling service rather than a financial prediction market, and that single classification decided the site's fate in France.
What exactly did the regulator order?
ANJ, short for Autorite nationale des jeux, ordered a DNS-level block. That's not a full takedown of the domain worldwide, just a restriction for French IP addresses through local providers.
Separately, the regulator banned the display of live odds on Polymarket's homepage. According to ANJ, the homepage with real-time odds became the main channel for promoting the unauthorized service to French users, even though the platform's operations aren't authorized in France.
"The homepage, which dynamically displays real-time odds for various events, serves as a major channel for disseminating and promoting Polymarket's offerings, even though the site's operations are not authorized in France."
- ANJ (Autorite nationale des jeux), from an official statement, July 16, 2026
Advertising an unregistered gambling site in France now carries a fine of up to 100,000 euros, roughly $114,000. Last year the country already blocked 1,290 gambling-related URLs.
Why did the regulator call this gambling?
France's position hardened in February 2026, when ANJ formally reclassified prediction markets as gambling. Polymarket has no stake limits and no self-exclusion tools, both of which are mandatory for licensed bookmakers.
The regulator described the site's mechanics as designed to hook players. Live odds, constantly refreshing events, the ability to bet on almost any piece of news. According to ANJ, those features mirror what licensed bookmakers offer, minus any of the safeguards against gambling addiction that the law requires from legal betting operators.
A separate incident added pressure. Investigators found signs of tampering with a Meteo-France temperature sensor tied to weather bets on the platform. Paris's cybercrime unit opened an investigation on May 4.
The regulator also cited Similarweb data. Polymarket drew 578,751 visits from 205,057 unique users in France in June, despite earlier restrictions already being in place for a year.
Why does gambling law apply here instead of crypto rules?
This is where the legal nuance sits. Polymarket runs on the Polygon blockchain, and every bet settles in the stablecoin USDC. On paper, that makes it a crypto product. But French regulators approached it differently. Since the platform is about betting on event outcomes, that falls under ANJ, not a financial watchdog or the EU's MiCA crypto framework.
That leaves Polymarket in a legal gray zone across the European Union. MiCA covers crypto assets and exchanges, but it doesn't reach prediction markets, which get treated as sports betting under the law. So each EU country handles the question on its own, through domestic gambling law rather than a shared crypto rulebook. That's exactly why ANJ, not a financial regulator, went after Polymarket in France.
What does this mean for users in practice?
A VPN workaround is technically possible, just like for any other blocked site. But ANJ was blunt about why this order goes further, saying past attempts to keep French users off the platform simply failed. This time the block covers the homepage too, not just the betting pages.
User funds already sitting on the platform don't disappear. The smart contracts on the Polygon blockchain keep running regardless of what French regulators decide. The block hits the web interface through providers, not the funds themselves.
- Block level: providers filter access at the DNS level for the domain.
- Advertising the service under French jurisdiction is now a criminal offense.
- Wallets such as MetaMask, which some users connect through, keep working as usual.
- Polymarket settles bets in the stablecoin USDC, an asset the regulator's order doesn't touch.
Why isn't France the first to do this?
Polymarket is now restricted in more than 30 jurisdictions. Switzerland blocked the platform back in November 2024. Poland, Singapore, and Belgium followed in early 2025. Portugal joined in January 2026, with Hungary following shortly after. Spain added itself to the list in May 2026.
The list stretches well beyond Europe. Indonesia blocked access to Polymarket over bets tied to a presidential resignation, while Brazil banned 27 prediction market platforms at once, Polymarket and Kalshi included.
Ukraine is on that list too. The platform was banned there in January 2026, also as an illegal gambling service. So for Ukrainian users, ANJ's order looks less like breaking news and more like a familiar pattern playing out again.
The picture in the US looks different. Polymarket and the similar platform Kalshi are suing state regulators. Both argue that the federal CFTC has exclusive authority over their contracts. At least 17 states have already joined lawsuits against the two platforms.
What comes next?
ANJ made its reasoning clear. Half-measures didn't work, so this block now covers the homepage with live odds as well. For Polymarket, it's another blow to its European audience. For regulators elsewhere, it's one more example of how to classify prediction markets.
The underlying question stays open. Is this a financial product, or just a casino running on a blockchain instead of a dealer? For now, most countries are leaning toward the second answer, and as Polymarket keeps fighting state regulators in US courts, the list of European countries blocking it will likely keep growing.
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