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After weeks of escalating tensions between Polymarket and the French government, the popular prediction betting market opted to block France-based users on Friday—cutting out a major market for the site.
Users attempting to access the site from France today found a new pop-up preventing them from doing so.
“You appear to be located in the United States, France, or another related jurisdiction,” the new pop-up reads. “Trading is not available to U.S. persons, persons located in the United States, France, or persons located in restricted jurisdictions.”
While U.S.-based users have been blocked from accessing Polymarket since 2022, following a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), France was, until today, a key market for the betting site.
That may have been part of the problem. In the weeks leading up to the U.S. presidential election—a marquee event for Polymarket that attracted billions of dollars’ worth of wagers—an anonymous French user attracted international scrutiny for placing $45 million worth of bets on Donald Trump’s victory from various accounts.
In the immediate aftermath of the revelation of this French user’s massive position—and swirling concerns about the potential for insider trading on Polymarket—a report surfaced that France’s national gaming regulator planned to ban the site in French territories.
It appears that Polymarket beat France to the punch today, by preemptively blocking all users based in the nation.
Decrypt reached out to both Polymarket and the ANJ, France’s national gaming authority, regarding whether today’s move was in compliance with a request from the French regulator or done independently, but did not immediately receive a response
Edited by Andrew Hayward