The French gambling regulator is considering a ban on access to the Polymarket prediction market even though the platform does not specifically target French users.

Polymarket's political predictions anger people

The French gambling regulator, the National Gambling Authority (NGA), is reportedly considering banning access to the Polymarket prediction market. An anonymous source within the NGA stated that the regulator may block access to Polymarket even though it does not specifically target French users.

According to Big Whale's report, the regulatory agency has taken an interest in Polymarket after information emerged that an anonymous French trader pocketed $19 million after correctly predicting Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election. Although initially shunned by traditional media, Polymarket continuously showed Trump leading Democratic candidate Kamala Harris sometimes by double-digit numbers.

However, many U.S. officials, including the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, have warned that prediction markets may face enforcement actions if they offer unregistered derivatives contracts to U.S. residents. Behnam previously revealed that the CFTC is closely monitoring offshore prediction markets, including Polymarket.

The French regulator threatens to block Polymarket

The French regulator, seemingly learning from the CFTC, has declared that Polymarket's activities are gambling in nature and are illegal in France.

"Even though Polymarket uses cryptocurrency in its operations, this is still betting activity and this is illegal in France," a source within the NGA stated.

According to reports, the French gambling regulatory agency is investigating the operations of Polymarket and its compliance with French gambling laws.

Meanwhile, William O'Rorke, a partner at ORWL Avocats, outlined potential enforcement actions that regulators could take against Polymarket and affiliated companies.

O'Rorke stated: "The national gambling authority could block the domain in France and even pressure organizations that provide this platform access to the French market, such as media agencies that have distributed Polymarket links or the game catalog."

However, the Big Whale report notes that users can easily bypass the block as Polymarket does not require users to provide personal information to create an account — just a cryptocurrency wallet. Even with geo-blocking, users can still easily use a virtual private network (VPN), the report added.
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