08-21-2026 
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South Korean authorities have ordered access to Polymarket to be blocked after determining that the digital currency prediction market provides an illegal gambling environment to users in the country.
On August 18, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), announced it had determined that digital currency-based prediction market Polymarket “constitutes information aimed at aiding and abetting gambling and operating a gambling venue under the Criminal Act, as well as information aimed at “similar acts” prohibited under the National Sports Promotion Act.”
As such, the country’s communications regulator resolved to block access to the platform.
“Polymarket, an overseas prediction market platform that has been criticized as illegal gambling, has been found to be speculative in Korea as well, and access has been blocked as a corrective measure,” said the regulator in its press release.
South Korea’s ban brings the list of countries or territories where the platform is blocked to 33, including Australia, Brazil, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, and the United States, according to Polymarket’s own geographic restrictions page.
Prediction market platforms, such as Polymarket, are a multibillion-dollar industry that allows users to profit from predictions on almost any event, from elections and political movements to the more traditional gambling sphere of sports. However, in recent months, the sector has been increasingly finding itself at odds with gambling authorities and laws around the world.
South Korea has a highly restrictive gambling regime. Gambling is generally prohibited unless it falls within specifically authorized exceptions, and the Criminal Act can apply to South Korean nationals even when they gamble abroad. South Korean residents generally cannot legally participate in unauthorized online gambling, including through overseas sportsbooks, with authorities actively monitoring and investigating illegal online gambling activity.
A KCSC review of Polymarket, which is headquartered in New York City, concluded that the platform amounted to “gambling-like” activity and “the establishment of an illegal gambling venue that fosters gambling tendencies through a winner-takes-all profit and loss structure relying on chance.”
Before making its decision, the regulator said it also gathered opinions from relevant agencies, including the National Police Agency, the Korea Gambling Control Commission, and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation.
“These agencies expressed the view that the operation of the Polymarket could constitute the establishment of a gambling venue or gambling offenses under domestic laws,” the KCSC said.
In its response to the commission, Polymarket argued that it had removed South Korean-language services and the ability to make payments in Korean Won. It also claimed that since the platform operates through non-custodial transactions and smart contracts, it does not qualify as an “administrator,” and because it does not directly collect or manage funds or issue sports betting tickets, it does not satisfy the requirements for violations of the Criminal Act or the National Sports Promotion Act, nor the requirements for gambling activities.
Unfortunately for Polymarket, the KCSC was apparently unimpressed by these arguments, saying technical characteristics such as decentralization, trading interfaces, and order books do not exempt a service from South Korean law.
The regulator also cited similar gambling-related bans for the platform in France, Germany, and Australia as justification for its decision.
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