France's ANJ says Polymarket is illegal gambling and asks ISPs to block it. The site drew 578K French visits in a month despite a financial transaction ban. Rival Kalshi, meanwhile, expands into drug-trial betting.
Alpha Score of 51 reflects moderate overall profile with strong momentum, poor value, moderate quality, moderate sentiment.
France's gambling regulator has ordered internet service providers to block access to Polymarket, the prediction market platform, arguing it operates as an illegal gambling site.
The order from the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), issued last week and reported Saturday by CoinDesk, follows an investigation launched in May that found the platform lacks know-your-customer controls for French and European users. The ANJ said past restrictions – including a 2024 prohibition on financial transactions – had failed to keep French users away. Virtual private networks let users bypass the ban.
The regulator cited data from Similarweb showing Polymarket logged 578,751 visits from 205,057 unique visitors in France last month alone. The ANJ warned that some bets on the platform “appeared to be rigged,” pointing to wagers on weather where sensors may have been compromised.
“Because some of their addictive features are similar to those of regulated gambling offerings – but are amplified by the absence of the protective mechanisms found in the legal gambling market – the ANJ urged users to exercise caution.”
The regulator said it had already blocked 1,290 gambling-related URLs in France last year. Polymarket faces similar restrictions in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Switzerland.
Polymarket has not responded to requests for comment.
The crackdown comes as prediction markets push into new territory. Polymarket rival Kalshi last week announced a partnership with public intelligence firm AppliedXL to offer trading on clinical trial outcomes and FDA regulatory decisions.
The ANJ’s action signals that European regulators are tightening the screws on platforms that blend betting with financial derivatives. Polymarket’s continued traffic despite a transaction ban suggests enforcement is difficult without ISP-level blocks. Whether other jurisdictions follow France's lead will determine how far the crackdown spreads.
The ANJ said its investigation is ongoing.
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