Polymarket has come under further pressure from European regulators after the French National Gaming Authority (ANJ) formally blacklisted the prediction market.
The move comes just as Ireland’s regulator revealed that High Court action against an undisclosed prediction market firm is under way.
The ANJ has ordered French ISPs to block access to Polymarket, as the site “promotes an illegal gambling and games of chance offering”.
The regulator said it first became aware of Polymarket in November 2024 and issued a formal notice to Adventure One QSS, the company the regulator deemed to be behind Polymarket.
It said Adventure One had implemented geoblocking to prevent financial transactions within France, but that the block had been “circumvented in practice”.
The ANJ added that over the past two years, Polymarket has seen its number of site visits and active users increase.
As per traffic analysis provider Similarweb and cited by the ANJ, in June 2026 Polymarket had 578,751 visits and 205,057 unique visitors.
“The site’s homepage, which dynamically displays real-time odds for various events available for betting, is a major vehicle for disseminating and promoting Polymarket’s offerings, despite the fact that its activities are not authorised in France,” the ANJ said.
In February 2026, the ANJ issued a notice to remind the public and stakeholders that it considered prediction markets to be a form of illegal gambling.
The regulator referenced concerns around markets which could be “rigged” on the Polymarket site, including those on weather.
The ANJ also pointed to an investigation from the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office and the French Anti-Cybercrime Office which found a lack of KYC protocols on the Polymarket site.
As per Polymarket’s list of geographic restrictions, the site is blocked in 33 countries, including Australia, Brazil, the UK, Italy, Japan, Belgium and Poland. Rival Kalshi has already been blocked in France.
The move from the French authorities followed Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) revealing High Court proceedings have begun against an unnamed prediction market.
Speak on RTÉ’s This Week, GRAI CEO Anne Marie Caulfield did not disclose the company in question’s identity but confirmed it was “one of the largest prediction market operators in the world who was operating here in Ireland”.
Ireland’s new regulatory regime kicked in on 1 July, with GRAI serving as the country’s regulator.
The GRAI has been operational since March 2025 and will begin approving licences this year.
Caulfield added: “For the vast majority of cases where we’ve intervened, they [prediction markets] have withdrawn their sites.
“But in the instance where they don’t do so, we can go to the High Court and get a blocking order for them, a blocking order for access to the site and also in relation to the funding involved.”
The GRAI does not yet possess the ability to demand internet service providers block sites as other regulators across the world do.
However, Caulfield said the GRAI was working Ireland’s media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, to secure “trusted flagger status” whereby sites the authority suspects are non-compliant can be removed.
In June, France was joined by eight other European regulators in vowing to take a hardline stance against prediction markets.
Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland all co-signed a joint statement with France warning of the risk of such platforms.
The post French and Irish regulators tighten the screws on prediction markets first appeared on EGR Intel.
France’s ANJ orders ISPs to block Polymarket, while Ireland’s regulator confirms High Court proceedings have begun against “one of the largest prediction market operators”
The post French and Irish regulators tighten the screws on prediction markets first appeared on EGR Intel.