France's ANJ Orders Block on Polymarket Prediction Market
Jacob Mitchell 
Key Takeaways:
- France's ANJ ordered internet service providers to block Polymarket.
- The regulator deemed Polymarket an illegal gambling site.
- Polymarket lacked Know Your Customer (KYC) controls for users.
- ANJ cited rigged bets and hacked weather sensors on the platform.
- French users accessed Polymarket despite prior financial transaction bans.
France’s gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has instructed internet service providers to block the prediction market platform, Polymarket. The ANJ issued this order last week, asserting that Polymarket and similar platforms operate as illegal gambling sites. This action follows an investigation that identified several regulatory non-compliances.
Regulatory Findings and Concerns
The ANJ's order, highlighted in a CoinDesk report, categorises Polymarket as an illegal gambling service. The regulator expressed concern that Polymarket's addictive features resemble those of regulated gambling offerings but lack the protective mechanisms found in the legal market, working within the broader iGaming licensing framework. The ANJ urged users to exercise caution due to these amplified risks. An investigation launched in May uncovered that some bets offered on the platform appeared to be rigged, citing instances where bets on weather outcomes suggested weather sensors might have been hacked. Furthermore, the ANJ found an absence of Know Your Customer (KYC) controls on Polymarket platforms accessible to French and European users.
Market Impact and Enforcement Challenges
Despite a prohibition on financial transactions imposed in 2024, Polymarket continued to attract a significant user base from online gambling in France. The ANJ reported that the platform recorded 578,751 visits from 205,057 unique visitors in France last month, according to data from Similarweb. Users circumvented the earlier ban through the use of virtual private networks (VPNs). France's action against Polymarket aligns with broader European efforts, as other countries including Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland have also restricted access to the platform. Last year, France blocked 1,290 gambling-related URLs as part of its enforcement activities.
Broader Prediction Market Landscape
The news regarding Polymarket's ban comes amidst a growing trend in prediction markets, which are expanding into new areas, a trend seen across global online gambling markets. For example, Polymarket rival Kalshi recently partnered with public intelligence company AppliedXL to launch a program enabling trading on clinical trial outcomes and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory decisions. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour stated, "Drug development is one of the most important and most information-constrained industries on earth." He added, "The data that determines which drugs advance and which don’t is largely locked away from the people who need it most. Surfacing information is what Kalshi is for, and we are committed to doing it right: compliance-first, carefully scoped and built for the long-term." The prediction market industry is driven by an architecture that allows trading on a broad range of products, including finance, culture, politics, entertainment, weather, and sports.
