Polymarket Faces Legal Challenges: Understanding Gambling Laws in France

Since November 2024, the ANJ (National Gaming Authority) has been monitoring the services offered by the company ADVENTURE ONE QSS INC. via its websites www.polymarket.com and polymarket.com, as these could be considered an unauthorized gambling and betting offer.

Adventure One QSS Inc Geo-blocking has been bypassed

Following an initial formal notice from the ANJ, ADVENTURE ONE QSS INC. implemented geo-blocking to prevent any financial transactions on the company’s gaming offers from French territory; however, in practice, this block has been bypassed.

In February 2026, the National Gaming Authority reiterated that prediction websites are not authorized in France. It noted that they are considered illegal gambling sites and thus expose users to numerous risks (addiction, lack of integrity, etc.) due to the absence of regulation.

Certain bets offered on the platform appeared to be rigged; for instance, bets on the weather revealed that weather sensors might have been hacked. An investigation into this matter was opened on May 4, 2026, by the cybercrime division of the Paris Prosecutor's Office and entrusted to the OFAC (Anti-Cybercrime Office). This case revealed that the Polymarket platforms available to French and European audiences lack user identification mechanisms to ensure compliance and integrity (known as KYC, or Know Your Customer).

Polymarket platforms gained visitors in France

Over the past two years, the platform has steadily gained visitors in France, reaching 578,751 visits and 205,057 unique visitors last June. The site’s homepage, which dynamically displays real-time odds for various bettable events, serves as a major channel for broadcasting and promoting Polymarket’s offers, even though its activities are not authorized on French territory. Advertising an unauthorized betting or gambling website by any means is a criminal offense. Anyone who advertises such an offer faces a fine of €100,000. The same penalty applies to anyone who has, by any means, broadcasted to the public the odds and reports offered by these unauthorized sites for the purpose of promoting unlicensed online gaming platforms.

Under these circumstances, the ANJ exercised its administrative blocking power against the site, as it has done for other illegal sites since gaining this authority (with 1,290 URLs blocked in 2025).

Prediction markets are drawing growing interest from regulatory authorities

Prediction markets are drawing growing interest from regulatory authorities. The hybrid nature of these markets explains the varying approaches taken by regulators around the world. In Europe, several countries have already restricted or blocked prediction markets, including Germany, Belgium, Romania, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic.