South Korea's Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) has voted to permanently block domestic access to Polymarket, an overseas blockchain-based prediction market platform that has drawn criticism as an illegal gambling service. The commission announced the decision on Tuesday, after consulting with police and gambling regulators, ordering internet providers to cut off access nationwide. The decision comes after examining how Polymarket creates markets, sets trading rules, processes crypto deposits and withdrawals and settles trades between users. The committee confirmed Polymarket's position and made a final decision after gathering views from related agencies including the National Police Agency, the National Gambling Control Commission and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation. The KCSC countered Polymarket's arguments that domestic laws cannot be evaded based on service methods or technical characteristics, stating that the platform's winner-take-all profit structure creates a practical illegal gambling environment for domestic users.
Under Polymarket's model, users trade shares tied to the outcome of events covering politics, economics, elections, sports, weather and other subjects. The platform allows users to predict the outcomes of specific events including US presidential election results, interest rate decisions, sports games and virtual asset prices and wager money on those predictions using blockchain technology. As reported by the committee, the structure can produce extreme financial gains or losses based on events that users cannot control, describing the winner-takes-all model as one that encourages speculative gambling behaviour. During the proceedings, Polymarket's representatives argued that the service operates through non-custodial peer-to-peer transactions and smart contracts, meaning the platform itself does not act as the organizer of wagers. However, the committee determined that while trades happen between users, Polymarket manages market creation, sets trading rules, and runs the infrastructure for deposits, withdrawals, and settlement, meaning user funds are effectively collected and distributed through the platform. The committee noted that trading is taking place on domestically specific issues such as August rainfall in Seoul, reinforcing its position that the platform provides a practical environment for illegal gambling.
The committee determined that Polymarket's winner-takes-all profit structure promotes a gambling instinct, as users' financial gains and losses are determined entirely by the outcomes of events beyond their control, such as politics, economics, international relations, sports, elections and weather. The commission ruled that the platform 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. In reaching that conclusion, the commission considered three factors: that Polymarket's operators run and manage the platform as a whole, including opening markets and setting trading rules; that the platform creates an environment in which user funds are effectively pooled and distributed through a virtual asset deposit, withdrawal and settlement system; and that the operators collect fees on share transactions and derive economic benefit from them. The commission rejected Polymarket's argument that it does not fall under the scope of South Korea's Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, stating that the platform cannot evade the application of domestic law on technical characteristics or service methods. The commission added that blocking access is unavoidable to protect domestic users, given that the platform is providing a de facto illegal gambling environment to users in South Korea.
Polymarket argued in its statement that it is not subject to the Information and Communications Network Act, citing steps including removing Korean-language services on its platform and not supporting payments in won. It also argued that the platform operates through non-custodial peer-to-peer (P2P) trading and smart contracts, meaning it does not qualify as an operator. The company stated it does not directly handle or manage funds or issue sports promotion voting tickets, and therefore does not meet requirements for violations under the Criminal Act and the National Sports Promotion Act or for speculative activity. However, the commission judged that domestic laws cannot be avoided on grounds such as whether Korean-language services are provided, decentralised technology or technical characteristics or service methods such as a trading interface. The commission emphasized that blocking access was unavoidable because the platform provides domestic users with a practical environment for illegal gambling based on a winner-takes-all profit structure driven by chance. The commission began reviewing the platform in July after requests from the National Police Agency and the National Gambling Control Commission, with police separately opening an investigation into local Polymarket users over suspected illegal gambling.
South Korea's action joins a widening group of over 30 jurisdictions that have restricted Polymarket access, including France, Spain, Indonesia, Argentina, and Ukraine. According to CoinDesk, Polymarket currently lists 39 countries being fully restricted from accessing the platform, but South Korea isn't mentioned in the official list. The commission's decision reinforces the global trend of regulatory crackdowns on prediction market platforms, with Brazil moving first with a ban of 27 prediction market platforms in April under a National Monetary Council resolution that bars derivatives tied to sports, political, or cultural outcomes, while Spain followed in May with a ban on Polymarket and Kalshi after regulators found neither platform held the domestic gambling license required to offer event-based trading to Spanish users. The regulatory rejection of Polymarket's defense regarding its P2P nature, arguing the platform manages market rules and facilitates crypto-based gambling activity, demonstrates the consistent international approach to treating these platforms as gambling venues regardless of technical structure.
