AIBRIEF
France's gambling regulator is replacing a 2024 transaction ban with a full site block on Polymarket, the prediction market site where users bet on real world events.
France's gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), ordered French internet providers on July 16 to block access to Polymarket, the prediction-market site where users bet money on real-world outcomes like elections and sports. It is a sharper lever than the November 2024 transaction-level geoblock the regulator used first; that earlier step stopped payments but not usage, and French residents still generated 578,751 Polymarket visits in June (205,057 unique), per ANJ figures cited by Engadget.
The new tool has teeth beyond the block. Anyone caught promoting an unauthorized betting or gambling site in France now faces fines of up to €100,000 (~$114,000). ANJ treats Polymarket as illegal gambling because the platform is operated by ADVENTURE ONE QSS INC., a Panamanian entity without a French license; its February 2026 warning on prediction markets flagged amplified addiction risk versus licensed French gambling products.
France is not alone. Spain has already ordered access blocks on Polymarket and Kalshi while it examines whether they breach Spanish gambling law. In the U.S., Minnesota has passed a bill banning prediction markets, and other states are suing the platforms. The pattern raises the open question that decides the next move: are these platforms gambling products, financial products, or something regulators have not yet named?