Ballon d'Or Owner Moves to Court Over Polymarket Bets That Called the Top Five

Twelve new Polymarket accounts bet about $264,000 on the exact 2026 Ballon d'Or top five before the ceremony and made close to $200,000, according to the French outlet Upside. Groupe Amaury, which owns France Football, says it is filing a complaint over suspected leaks and potentially fraudulent bets.

• Groupe Amaury, owner of France Football and L'Équipe, told AFP on 2 November that a complaint was being filed over alleged leaks of the Ballon d'Or result and potentially fraudulent bets
• According to Upside, 12 Polymarket accounts created between 1 and 20 October bet about $264,000 on the exact top five: Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Lionel Messi
• The accounts made nearly $200,000, about €178,000, when Kane won the award at the 26 October ceremony in London
• Polymarket cannot legally take bets in France: the ANJ blocked it in July
• No leak has been proven, nobody has been accused, and no prosecutor has publicly confirmed an investigation

Amaury Takes the Suspected Leak to the Courts

Groupe Amaury, which organises the Ballon d'Or through France Football, announced on 31 October that it would file a complaint, confirming a report by Le Parisien, according to franceinfo. In a statement sent to AFP on Monday 2 November, the group said the filing was under way. "We take very seriously the allegations of leaks of the results and potentially fraudulent bets," the group said, adding that investigations are under way to verify the facts and establish any responsibility. The reports do not say which authority received the complaint, and none names a suspect. The Belgian daily La DH reported that France Football had also called in the police.

Kane, of Bayern Munich, won at the Palladium Theatre in London on 26 October. The vote breakdown, published on 30 October, gave Kane 1,055 points to Mbappé's 1,027, according to Orange Sports. France Football editor-in-chief Vincent Garcia told La DH that "only three to five people are supposed to know the result of the Ballon d'Or in advance".

Twelve Accounts Backed One Ranking

Upside, a French business news outlet, first reported the bets three days before the ceremony. It identified 12 Polymarket accounts, created between 1 and 20 October, that placed about $264,000, roughly €235,000, on markets tied to the 2026 award. All 12 backed the order that became the official result. Seven had bet on no other market, and six bet 15 minutes after opening, Sud Radio reported. AFP, citing Upside, said the accounts were potentially held by the same person.

Upside chief executive Raphaël Pautard told La DH that "repeated purchases" first caught the outlet's attention, with stakes on the top five rising from between $500 and $1,500 to $30,000. One account, Kallipso, bought its first Kane position on 28 September at 23:59, one minute before the jury vote closed, La DH reported; opened in October 2024, it had backed Rodri, that year's winner. A follow-up published by Upside on 29 October linked one account to Deblock, a French financial app, which could help the authorities trace its holder, SportBusiness.Club reported.

Polymarket Was Already Blocked in France

The Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), France's gambling regulator, says prediction markets are not authorised in France and are treated as illegal gambling sites. Its president ordered internet providers to block Polymarket on 16 July, the regulator said, citing bets that appeared rigged and the absence of identity checks for French and European users. Licensed French operators may take bets only on the competitions, sporting events and result types listed by the ANJ, under a decision in force since 1 March 2024.

The award has leaked before. In 2024, according to franceinfo, Real Madrid boycotted the ceremony after learning that Vinícius Júnior, whose name had leaked, would not win.

A Juried Award Is a Secret With a Price on It

A match stays uncertain until the final whistle; a juried award is settled weeks before it is announced. The 2026 vote closed on 28 September, so for four weeks the result existed and, by Garcia's account, was known to a handful of people. The risk is not that someone fixes the outcome but that someone trades on it. That is the weakness that led the Pentagon to bar staff from trading on nonpublic information, and it applies to any market on a decision taken in private.

The Block Removed the Oversight, Not the Market

The ANJ's case against Polymarket rested partly on the absence of identity checks, and that is what makes this complaint hard to pursue: every trade is public on the blockchain, but none carries a name. The one lead Upside reports runs through a French app, not the platform. No licensed French sportsbook could list the market, so none was watching it, while a venue French regulators cannot supervise took six figures on a French-owned award. US lawmakers are pressing Kalshi and Polymarket on insider trading for the same reason: a public ledger is not a surveillance system.

Amaury's complaint turns a suspicion about one vote into a test of whether French investigators can trace pseudonymous accounts on a platform France has already blocked. If they cannot, every award decided behind closed doors becomes a market for whoever is in the room.