Polymarket to challenge France’s access block after ANJ order on July 16

Polymarket is taking France to court after the country’s gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), told internet service providers to block access to the platform on July 16. For high-risk payment and platform operators, the interesting part is not the block itself but the legal line France is drawing between a prediction market and an unauthorized gambling service.

1. According to the ANJ, Polymarket is operating as an unauthorized gambling service rather than a regulated financial marketplace. The regulator instructed internet service providers on July 16 to restrict access to the platform across France.
2. The regulator said French internet users were still able to access parts of Polymarket even after earlier restrictions on trading activity. Financial transactions had reportedly been prevented for users in France since late 2024, but the ANJ said continued access to prediction markets and live probabilities remained inconsistent with French gambling legislation.
3. Polymarket says it will contest the block before French courts. Its argument is that the restriction is disproportionate because it had already taken steps to stop trading by users located in France. The company says French users have been unable to execute trades since late 2024.
4. What remained accessible, according to Polymarket, was only publicly available market information: users could view prediction markets, but not participate financially. The company also says many people use the platform for informational purposes, to track collective expectations around political events, economic developments and sporting competitions.
5. The legal dispute is set to focus on whether access to publicly available prediction market data should be treated differently from facilitating financial participation. That distinction matters well beyond Polymarket, because it goes to the basic regulatory question of whether event-based prediction platforms are financial trading services or online gambling operators.

France’s position is straightforward: the ANJ said that even if users can no longer place trades, the platform still displays active markets, probabilities and event outcomes, and accessibility alone may help promote an unauthorized gambling service. For PSPs, acquiring teams and banks, this is the part worth watching: if a regulator treats read-only access as part of the prohibited activity, the compliance perimeter gets wider very quickly.