France orders Polymarket blocked for illegal gambling offering
France's National Gaming Authority has ordered internet service providers in the country to block access to the prediction market Polymarket, considering that the platform, which records a particularly high audience, promotes an illegal gambling offering.
In a statement, the regulator indicated that since November 2024, it had been monitoring the services offered by Adventure One QSS Inc. through polymarket.com, understanding that they could constitute an unauthorized gambling offering. Following an initial request from the authority, the company implemented a geoblocking system that prevented financial transactions related to its games from French territory, although in practice, this restriction could be circumvented.
In response to this scenario, in February 2026, the body reiterated that prediction markets are not authorized in France and are considered illegal gambling sites, which exposes their users to numerous risks, including addiction and integrity issues, due to the absence of a regulatory framework. It has now decided to apply its power of administrative site blocking, as it has been doing with other illegal platforms since it acquired this competence. In 2025 alone, it ordered the blocking of 1,290 addresses.
The regulator also questioned that some of the bets offered on the platform showed apparent irregularities. In particular, it noted that bets related to the weather revealed that certain weather probes might have been hacked. As a consequence, on May 4, 2026, the cybercrime section of the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation, entrusted to the Cybercrime Office. The case also highlighted that Polymarket platforms available to users in France and Europe lacked an identity verification system designed to ensure the reliability of those operating on them.
Over the past two years, the site has steadily increased its number of visitors in France. In June of this year alone, it recorded 578,751 visits and 205,057 unique visitors. According to the authority, the homepage, which dynamically displays in real-time the odds associated with the various events on which it is possible to bet, constitutes an important channel for disseminating and promoting an activity that is not authorized in French territory. Finally, the body reminded that advertising an unauthorized betting or gambling site by any means constitutes a crime, and the same sanction applies to anyone who disseminates to the public the odds and payouts offered by these sites for the purpose of promoting them.
Tags: French National Gaming Authority, Polymarket, Adventure One QSS, gambling site blocking