In France, the ANJ is investigating Polymarket, the betting platform that was all the rage during the American campaign

Since the American presidential election, in which it offered to bet sums of money on the candidates online, the Polymarket cryptocurrency betting platform has never been so popular and publicized. A celebrity which has now made him find himself, in France, in the sights of the National Gaming Authority (ANJ).

The gambling regulator is currently investigating this online portal, which describes itself as “the largest prediction market in the world”learned Thursday November 7 The Worldconfirming information published the day before by the French media specializing in cryptocurrencies The Big Whalethen by the American agency Bloomberg.

“We are aware of this site and we are currently examining its operation as well as its compliance with French gambling legislation,” said an ANJ spokesperson on Thursday. According to The Big Whalethe fate of Polymarket would already be decided because the authority would be preparing “to ban it from French users”. Information that the National Gaming Authority has not confirmed at this stage.

Whether the bets are made in cryptoassets or not, French legislation on the online betting offer is clear: for a site to operate legally, it must have approval specially issued by the ANJ. An authorization that the American platform Polymarket might not have obtained, which had not responded to requests from Monde at the time of publication of this article.

A site already inaccessible in the United States

The regulator's examination also comes after a man, presenting himself under the pseudonym as a trader and identified by Polymarket as being French, bet large sums on the victory of Donald Trump. After the Republican's election, he stands to net a profit of about $48 million, according to calculations by Bloomberg.

The New York platform has in fact largely benefited from the international enthusiasm surrounding the race for the American presidency. These bets alone produced volume of nearly $3.7 billion, according to Polymarket data. The platform in some way foreshadowed the victory of Donald Trump: throughout the last months of the campaign, its odds on the billionaire were always higher than the figures of traditional pollsters.

Paradoxically, Polymarket has often been cited in the American campaign even though the site is theoretically inaccessible in the United States, since an agreement concluded with the American regulator in 2022. A blockage which can be easily circumvented, in particular by the use of private networks virtual networks (VPN), and which therefore does not prevent many Americans from using the platform massively since the start of the year. A finding that could raise questions in France, while the ANJ is looking into the matter.