France and Turkey block Polymarket over illegal gambling

France’s national gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), issued an administrative order on 16‑17 July 2026 directing all French internet service providers to block access to the crypto‑based prediction‑market platform Polymarket. The ANJ said the site promotes unlicensed gambling, noting that its homepage displayed live odds to more than 578,000 French visitors in June 2026 and that a prior geoblock had been routinely bypassed with VPNs.

Turkey’s Milli Piyango Directorate, acting through the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, issued a similar decision on 16 July 2026, classifying Polymarket as an illegal betting service and ordering the domain to be blocked nationwide. The Turkish move mirrors France’s, citing risks of gambling addiction, financial loss and lack of consumer protection.

Other European regulators have taken comparable steps. Ireland’s Gambling Regulatory Authority ordered a geoblock, and Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and several other jurisdictions have placed the platform on restricted lists. The coordinated crackdown treats prediction‑market contracts, which allow users to buy and sell shares tied to future events, as gambling subject to existing national betting laws.

The actions illustrate a growing EU‑wide effort to bring offshore crypto‑driven prediction markets under traditional gambling oversight, limiting their access to users within the affected countries.