France orders ISPs to block Polymarket after gambling compliance review

France’s gambling regulator has gone past payment restrictions and moved to access blocking: internet service providers have been told to cut off Polymarket for users in France. For anyone running or servicing high-risk products, the point is simple enough — if a regulator decides a product sits outside the licensed framework, it may go after the website itself, not just the money flow.

1. The order was issued by France’s Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), whose president signed the blocking order on 16 July after an extended review of Polymarket’s availability to French users.
2. Domestic internet service providers are now required to prevent users located in France from accessing the platform. The regulator said the site had remained accessible despite previous measures aimed at restricting activity from France.
3. The review began in late 2024, when ANJ first examined Polymarket’s availability to French consumers. According to the authority, earlier efforts focused on restricting financial transactions originating from France through geoblocking measures, but those steps did not fully stop users from reaching the service.
4. ANJ’s position is that prediction markets are not among France’s authorised gambling products. The regulator said these products may share important characteristics with traditional betting products while operating outside the consumer protection safeguards licensed gambling operators must implement.
5. The underlying regulatory point is about substance, not branding: ANJ said the legal classification of a service depends on how it functions rather than how it is described. In practice, that means products allowing users to speculate on future events can draw gambling scrutiny if they resemble wagering activities.

For PSPs, acquirers and banks, this is the familiar European pattern with a fresh target: once a regulator decides a vertical is outside the local licence perimeter, payments are only one part of the response. Access controls, customer identification and product design all become part of the compliance question.