Polymarket will challenge France’s full-site block, calling it disproportionate
Polymarket will challenge France's full-site block in court, arguing the order cuts off users seeking market probabilities even though trading is disabled.
In Brief
- Polymarket says it will challenge France’s nationwide website block through the French legal system, calling the ANJ’s order disproportionate because trading from France has been disabled since November 2024.
- France’s gambling regulator ordered ISPs to block the entire site, arguing it still promoted illegal gambling and citing loss, identity-check, and market-manipulation risks.
- France joins Ukraine, Argentina, and Spain in ordering ISP blocks, while Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Romania have also restricted the platform.
Polymarket will fight France’s decision to block its website nationwide, arguing the order cuts users off from market probabilities even though trading from the country has been disabled since November 2024, according to CoinDesk. The prediction market platform said it would challenge the decision through the French legal system.
“We were surprised at the ANJ decision to block access to our entire website because their measure targets people going to Polymarket purely for information,” the company said in a press release cited by CoinDesk. “We are proud that most people come to Polymarket solely to learn the probability of future events relevant to their everyday life with no intention to trade. Prediction markets help source truth.”
France’s gambling regulator, the ANJ, ordered internet service providers to block the platform last week, saying it exposed users to potential losses and offered markets that could be manipulated — citing, among other things, suspected manipulation of weather-related markets and concerns over identity checks, per CoinDesk. Frontierbeat reported on the initial block order when Polymarket first signaled its legal response.
Polymarket’s Case: Information, Not Gambling
The dispute turns partly on how Polymarket’s contracts should be classified. The company describes them as blockchain-based financial instruments traded directly between users, with prices set by market activity, CoinDesk reported. Polymarket says it does not take the other side of trades or profit from market outcomes — distinguishing its model from a gambling operator that sets odds and trades against customers.
The ANJ saw it differently: the regulator said the platform remained accessible after trading restrictions were introduced and continued to promote an unauthorized gambling service, per CoinDesk.
What makes the French order unusually aggressive is its scope. Polymarket had already blocked transactions from France since November 2024, but the ANJ ordered the entire website blocked because users could still view its markets and live probabilities — the informational layer the company considers its public good.
A Widening Map of Restrictions
France is the latest country to order an ISP-level block, following similar action in Ukraine, Argentina, and Spain, while Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Romania have also restricted access or classified Polymarket as an unauthorized gambling platform, according to CoinDesk. The outlet asked Polymarket whether it is challenging enforcement decisions outside France and had not heard back at publication time.
The regulatory squeeze abroad contrasts with the platform’s deepening U.S. legitimacy, where prediction markets have been embraced by brokerages and analysts — Bernstein recently cast them as a growth engine for Robinhood — and where Polymarket’s odds increasingly serve as a real-time reference for Federal Reserve policy expectations.
The outcome of the French challenge could set a European precedent for the industry’s core claim: that a prediction market’s probabilities are information infrastructure, not a betting product. If courts side with the ANJ, the informational defense collapses into the gambling classification; if Polymarket prevails, regulators lose their broadest tool against platforms that have already geo-blocked trading.
FAQ
Why did France block Polymarket if trading was already disabled?
The ANJ ordered the full-site block because users could still view markets and live probabilities, which the regulator says continued to promote an unauthorized gambling service.
What is Polymarket’s legal argument?
That its contracts are blockchain-based financial instruments traded between users — it does not set odds or take the other side of trades — and the block disproportionately targets people seeking information.
Which other countries restrict Polymarket?
Ukraine, Argentina, and Spain have ordered ISP blocks, while Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Romania have restricted access or classified it as unauthorized gambling.
