Groupe Amaury, the owner of France Football and the organiser of the Ballon d'Or, said it will file a complaint over a possible leak of the 2026 award results and suspicious bets on Polymarket. The group announced the plan after suspicions of a leak and potentially fraudulent bets, Radio France's sports service reported, citing confirmation from the group. The news emerged on Saturday, October 31.
The bets concerned the final ranking. Twelve new accounts, registered from October 1, placed large wagers on the future exact ranking, and their winnings totaled about $200,000. In all, about $264,000 went to the markets. All bets were placed on the exact order of the top five: Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Lionel Messi. Kane received the award at the ceremony on October 26 in London.
Seven of the twelve accounts had never bet on other markets before, and six placed their first bet 15 minutes after registration.
In a statement, the group said it takes allegations of result leaks and possibly fraudulent bets very seriously. Investigations are already underway: they will have to verify the facts and establish possible liability.
Polymarket is closed in France. On July 16, 2026, the chairman of the regulator ANJ ordered providers to block access to the site; according to him, the platform promotes an illegal offer of gambling. The Ballon d'Or bets were placed in October, three months after that decision.
The regulator also noted that the platform does not verify user identities. A separate investigation into these bets was opened on May 4, 2026 by the Paris prosecutor's office, and the case was passed to the Office for Combating Cybercrime. That probe concerns weather bets, where weather sensors could have been hacked; it is not related to the Ballon d'Or case.
So far, only Polymarket is named in the case. No licensed French operator is involved. For prediction platforms, the conclusion is direct: the absence of identity checks and the closure of access have already become grounds for blocking.
The group did not give a timeline for the investigation. The next decision now rests with the bodies to which the group has handed the complaint.
