France orders full ISP block of Polymarket after 578,751 visits from France in June 2026

France's gambling regulator has moved to cut off access to crypto prediction market Polymarket, ordering domestic internet service providers to block the site after traffic from France remained significant despite earlier restrictions. On July 17, the National Gambling Authority (ANJ) said the platform continued to publicize unauthorized gambling services and that prior measures were being bypassed in practice. Citing Similarweb, the regulator reported 578,751 visits from France and 205,057 unique French visitors in June 2026. The figures help explain why France escalated from asking the operator to restrict trading to directing ISPs to block the main website. The decision underscores a tension regulators are increasingly targeting: even if settlement happens onchain, most retail users still depend on a website to view odds, discover markets, and place orders. ANJ's intervention dates back to November 2024, when it said it had contacted Adventure One QSS Inc.—identified by the agency as the operator of Polymarket and registered in Panama—after concluding the service may constitute illegal gambling under French law. Adventure One later implemented geoblocking, which ANJ initially said stopped bets from France. The July 2026 notice frames the new ISP blockade as the next step in the same case. According to ANJ, earlier restrictions focused on blocking financial transactions originating in France reduced direct participation but did not eliminate the platform's reach. The regulator said Polymarket's homepage continued to display continuously updated odds to a large French audience, effectively serving as a promotional channel for activity ANJ considers unlawful. French law gives ANJ tools to act against such interfaces. After a statutory notice and response period, Article 61 allows the regulator to order ISPs to block specific illegal online interfaces and to require search engines or directories to stop referencing them. ANJ said 1,290 URLs tied to illegal gambling were blocked through this process in 2025. ANJ is building its case on gambling rules rather than crypto usage. Its 2024 notice said the intervention concerns the gambling nature of the service. In a February 2026 policy statement, the regulator broadened its rationale, classifying prediction markets as unlicensed gambling in France and citing always-on access, viral distribution, and fewer safeguards than licensed operators. ANJ pointed to addiction risk, integrity concerns, and the lack of identity and age verification as reasons to restrict access. The order targets the service layer rather than the blockchain settlement itself. Polymarket's documentation separates distribution from settlement and lists France as "closed only" on both the frontend and API, allowing users to close existing positions but not open new ones. The platform's IP eligibility check is hosted on polymarket.com, indicating geographic access is enforced via operator-controlled infrastructure. Polymarket describes its central limit order book as hybrid: orders are matched offchain, while matched trades are atomically settled via a trading contract on Polygon. The company says trades are noncustodial. ANJ's action is aimed at making the product harder to access and discover for retail users, without indicating a ban on the Polygon contracts. Across Europe, regulation remains fragmented rather than unified at the EU level. ANJ listed 12 European jurisdictions that have restricted or blocked prediction markets: Germany, Belgium, Romania, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. Spain offers a recent parallel. On May 26, 2026, Spain's General Directorate of Gambling Regulation ordered an interim block of the Polymarket and Kalshi websites during proceedings related to suspected unlicensed gambling. Spanish officials highlighted licensing requirements, identity verification, controls to protect minors, and self-exclusion mechanisms. The patchwork is forcing prediction markets to weigh stricter geofencing, expanded identity and consumer protection, and licensing strategies that vary by country. France's move suggests that limiting transactions alone may not satisfy regulators when live odds remain visible and widely distributed. By focusing on access and distribution layers controlled by operators, authorities can raise compliance costs and restrict domestic reach without changing the onchain settlement logic.