Inside the 2026 Global Crackdown on Polymarket and Prediction Markets

In July 2026, regulators on both sides of the Atlantic escalated their enforcement against prediction markets — particularly Polymarket — with a series of coordinated and independent actions. Here is a verified country-by-country breakdown of what happened and why.

France: From Transaction Ban to Nationwide ISP Block

France's gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), ordered internet service providers to block Polymarket nationwide on July 16, 2026, classifying it as an illegal gambling site and citing risks of significant losses and market manipulation .

This ISP-level block escalated an earlier November 2024 ban on financial transactions to Polymarket, which had already led the platform to implement IP-based geoblocking for French users in December 2024 . The ANJ noted that earlier restrictions had failed to deter French users, with Polymarket receiving 578,751 visits from 205,057 unique visitors in France in June 2026 alone — despite the transaction ban and geoblocking being in place . The regulator stated that the site's continued availability, with real-time odds updates, constituted unauthorized advertising .

Netherlands: Appeal Rejected, Illegal Gambling Sanction Upheld

The Dutch gambling regulator, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), upheld its illegal gambling sanction against Polymarket and rejected the platform's appeal in July 2026 .

Polymarket's operator, Adventure One QSS Inc., argued that it merely provided a front-end to a decentralized blockchain protocol and that some markets qualified as financial instruments. The KSA did not accept these arguments, citing Dutch-language marketing and active targeting of Dutch users . The regulator had originally ordered Polymarket to stop operations in the Netherlands in February 2026, threatening weekly fines of €420,000 for non-compliance .

Italy: Re-Listed as Unauthorized for the Second Time

On July 10, 2026, Italy's Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) placed Polymarket back on its official blacklist of blocked websites, ordering ISPs to block access . The ADM treats prediction market event contracts as gambling requiring an Italian concession, which Polymarket does not hold . ISPs were given until July 27, 2026, to complete the blocking process . Italy had first blacklisted Polymarket in October 2025 .

Arizona: Governor Hobbs' Executive Order

On July 9, 2026, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed an executive order prohibiting state executive branch employees from using nonpublic government information to profit on prediction markets, explicitly naming platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket . The order designates nonpublic government information as confidential for this purpose and closes a gap not yet addressed at the federal state-employee level . Violations can result in termination and referral to law enforcement .

Maricopa County: Parallel Policy for 10,000–13,000 Employees

On July 15, 2026, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors passed a unanimous resolution banning county employees from using insider information to bet on prediction markets, following Governor Hobbs' executive order . Multiple news reports describe the policy covering approximately 10,000–13,000 county employees, though the precise figure comes from news descriptions of "thousands" and county workforce estimates rather than an exact official count in the cited sources . Other Arizona government agencies — including the Arizona Legislature, the Attorney General's office, and the Secretary of State's office — are reportedly considering similar measures .

Czech Republic: Blocked as Unlicensed Gambling

The Czech Finance Ministry ordered ISPs to block Polymarket as an unlicensed gambling platform in mid-July 2026, extending the broader European enforcement trend .

Items Not Independently Verified in This Search

Due to search budget limits in this session, the following items were not independently verified with primary sources: (1) Kalshi's customer employment screening practices, (2) Polymarket's specific insider trading policies in 2026, (3) Ukraine's reported ISP-level block, and (4) the full text of the coordinated European regulatory warning referenced in multiple secondary sources . Both sources and mention a unified enforcement initiative and a coordinated European warning in June 2026, but specific warning text and cross-border cooperation details were not captured in the retrieved snippets.

The Bigger Picture

The July 2026 actions represent an acceleration, not a beginning. France had restricted transactions since November 2024. The Netherlands had issued a cease-and-desist in February 2026. Italy had blacklisted Polymarket once before in 2025. What is new is the scale: multiple countries acting within the same week, and the U.S. entering the fray with state-level insider-trading bans that explicitly name prediction markets.