French Gambling Authority Orders Block on Polymarket Access… Tightening Regulation of Decentralized Platforms

On July 16, 2026, the French National Gambling Authority (ANJ) significantly intensified its regulatory stance against the decentralized prediction market, Polymarket. The ANJ ordered internet service providers (ISPs) in France to block access to the Polymarket website, implementing strong, infrastructure-level sanctions aimed at the decentralized platform.

This measure is based on the determination that Polymarket is providing illegal gambling and betting services within France. The authority pointed out that the platform includes addictive mechanisms and lacks self-exclusion tools for user protection as key issues.

Legal Basis and Regulatory Concerns

The ANJ's decision is based on the framework of the French Gambling Act enacted in 2010. According to the act, any entity providing online gambling services in France must obtain an official license from the ANJ. As Polymarket operates outside of this licensing system, it has been classified as an illegal betting service under French law.

The authority also warned that some betting items offered on the platform are susceptible to manipulation and pose a high risk of significant financial loss for users. The authority maintains that, especially with the rapid increase in the number of users in France, mandatory measures were inevitable to prevent reckless participation in betting.

Shift from Financial Sanctions to ISP Blocking

This ISP blocking order suggests that previous financial-based sanctions have failed. Authorities had previously attempted various financial sanctions, such as payment blocking, to prevent the use of Polymarket, but as French users continued to bypass these measures to use the platform, a stronger physical blocking method was chosen.

Regulatory Pressure on Decentralized Platforms

This incident illustrates a typical conflict that arises when decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms clash with national regulatory frameworks. Controlling platforms that lack a clear centralized operator or operate across borders through national laws is a technically very difficult challenge.

Industry experts analyze that this measure will likely lead French users to attempt to bypass the block using tools like VPNs. This demonstrates that physical blocking by regulatory authorities cannot be a technically perfect solution, and regulatory friction between decentralized platforms and national governments is expected to intensify in the future.