South Korea has ordered Polymarket blocked, classifying the crypto prediction platform as an illegal gambling operation. The media and communications review commission issued the decision on Tuesday. The country joins France, Australia and Germany in restricting access to Polymarket on similar grounds.
Polymarket told the regulator it had removed Korean-language services and does not support payments in won. The company argued that transactions run through smart contracts and that it does not directly control user funds. The commission rejected the arguments. Decentralisation, a trading interface and order books do not place the service outside South Korean jurisdiction, regulators said.
The platform was found to be an information resource facilitating gambling, a violation of the Criminal Code. A second ground cited the law on sport development, which prohibits certain betting. Authorities noted that Polymarket manages markets, sets trading rules, enables crypto deposits and withdrawals, and collects transaction fees. The winner-takes-all structure allows users to make or lose money based on the outcomes of political, sports or weather events. That encourages speculative behaviour and creates an illegal gambling environment, the commission concluded.
For operators and affiliates, South Korea's decision signals that regulators do not treat crypto mechanisms and smart contracts as sufficient grounds to sidestep gambling laws. Polymarket positions itself as a prediction market, but authorities in four countries now assess the platform's model as classic bookmaking.
