South Korea Hunts Down Prediction Market Users

South Korea's Broadcasting, Media and Communications Standards Commission voted on 18 August 2026 to order domestic internet service providers to block access to Polymarket, classifying the crypto prediction market as a venue for illegal gambling under Korean law. The corrective action ends a regulatory review that began in May and arrives on top of the country's first criminal investigation into Korean users of the platform.

From Review to Full Block in Three Months

The commission opened its formal review on 21 May 2026 after identifying that Korean traders had placed significant bets on Polymarket's binary event contracts using USDC on Polygon. On 6 July, regulators allowed Polymarket to submit a written defense before ruling, and that window closed without a resolution that the commission found satisfactory.The 18 August order requires ISPs to restrict connections to Polymarket's domains. The commission described the block as "unavoidable," noting that Polymarket had continued accepting Korean traders even as domestic law left no room to treat event-outcome wagers as anything other than illegal betting, News1 reported. Under Article 246 of the Criminal Act, gambling outside Sports Toto, the sole authorized outlet, is a prosecutable offense. Sports Toto caps wagers at 100,000 won, approximately $71 per bet. Violators face fines of up to 10 million won, roughly $7,050.

$52M in Election Bets Triggered the Probe

The block reinforces a separate criminal investigation, and on 5 June, the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency opened South Korea's first probe into domestic Polymarket users at the request of the National Police Agency. The trigger was the country's 3 June local elections, which drew more than $52 million in trading volume across related election contracts.Heavy activity concentrated on the Seoul mayoral race and a contract on whether President Lee Jae-myung would leave office in 2026. Investigators are examining users under Article 246, which covers gambling and habitual gambling offenses. Korean gambling laws apply extraterritorially, meaning citizens can be charged for placing bets abroad. Legal experts in Seoul have warned that further enforcement actions against individual bettors are likely now that the media regulator has formally classified the platform as illegal gambling.

Polymarket Faces Restrictions in More Than 30 Jurisdictions

South Korea joins Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, and more than 30 other jurisdictions that restrict Polymarket access, according to Crypto Briefing and CoinDesk.The ban arrives as Polymarket pursues a $20 billion valuation in a new $1 billion fundraise. Monthly trading volume topped $10 billion for the first time in March 2026, reaching $10.57 billion, a 33% increase from February. Yet each new country-level block chips away at the addressable user base.The Gangwon police probe remains active, and Polymarket has not publicly commented on the commission's ruling.