- French authorities have ordered internet providers to block Polymarket after determining it operates as an unauthorised gambling platform under national law.
- Regulators said existing restrictions were ineffective, with hundreds of thousands of visits recorded despite a financial transaction ban and VPN workarounds.
- France joins a growing list of jurisdictions restricting the platform as authorities raise concerns about consumer protections and market integrity.
France has moved to block access to Polymarket after its gambling regulator concluded the prediction market is operating without the required authorisation under national gambling laws. Internet service providers were instructed on 16 July 2026 to prevent access to the website.
The regulator said the platform promotes an illegal gambling offering and stated that advertising unauthorised gambling websites is a criminal offence punishable by fines of up to 100,000 euros (US$114,000 (AU$165,300)).
Officials said previous action had not stopped French users from reaching the site. The regulator cited figures showing 578,751 visits from 205,057 unique visitors in France during June, adding that users were still able to bypass restrictions by using VPNs.
The authority also said Polymarket’s homepage continued to advertise its services through continuously updated betting odds. It argued that prediction markets resemble regulated gambling products but lack safeguards such as stake limits and self-exclusion mechanisms.
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Consumer Safeguards Under Scrutiny
Regulators further pointed to concerns over possible manipulation of certain event contracts. They referenced weather-based markets in which weather sensors may have been hacked and said the Paris Public Prosecutor’s cybercrime unit launched an investigation in May 2026 after identifying an absence of identity verification checks.
The decision places France alongside several other jurisdictions that have restricted Polymarket, including Singapore, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Ukraine, Brazil and Indonesia. Polymarket says it is currently geoblocked across 36 regions as regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets continues to expand globally.
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