The French regulator strikes against Polymarket: geo-blocking for all providers
The National Gambling Authority of France (ANJ) has made a tough decision: all internet service providers in the country are required to immediately block access to the prediction platform Polymarket. The regulator has officially equated the activities of this crypto market to illegal gambling, automatically placing it outside the law in France.
It is worth noting that geo-blocking of transactions had been in effect since 2024, but French users actively circumvented it. According to my data, in June 2025 alone, the platform was visited by over 205,000 unique French users — this indicates a high demand for the service despite the restrictions. The regulator also pointed out a serious risk of manipulation of betting outcomes: the Paris prosecutor's office has been conducting an investigation since May on suspicion of hacking weather sensors to gain an advantage in weather bets. This is the first documented case where cybercriminals attempt to influence real data to win on a decentralized platform.
As of today, Polymarket is already blocked in 36 jurisdictions worldwide, including Singapore, Poland, Ukraine, and Brazil. This makes the platform one of the most geo-blocked in the crypto space.
My expert assessment: The situation with Polymarket is a vivid example of how traditional regulators try to stretch old laws over new technologies. However, a complete block in 36 countries with 205,000 French users in one month proves that demand for decentralized prediction markets is only growing. The question is not whether the platform can be blocked, but how long users will circumvent these restrictions. In the long term, regulators will either have to adapt legislation to crypto-gambling or admit their powerlessness in the face of technology.