France bans Polymarket

The latest country outside of the United States to take on the prediction markets is France, who have argued that Polymarket is an illegal gambling operation.

Internet service providers in France have been ordered to block leading prediction market Polymarket.

The French regulator Autorité Nationale des Jeux issued an order on July 16, which suggests that they consider Polymarket to be an illegal gambling operation (rather than a financial service as it is viewed in the United States). 

This comes after an initial ban in 2024, which prohibited financial transactions with the operator. This ban proved ineffective, and Polymarket receives hundreds of thousands of visitors from France every month. 

An illegal gambling operation

The regulator argued that Polymarket could expose users to significant losses, as some of the markets were vulnerable to manipulation.

The website will remain blocked until regulators determine that Polymarket complies with French gambling laws. 

This is one of many recent countries from outside the United States to go after prediction markets. Argentina banned Polymarket back in March, while New Zealand classified prediction markets as gambling, as did the United Kingdom. Other countries that have pushed back against prediction markets include France, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Hungary, Thailand, the Netherlands and Australia.