[NEWS]South Korea Opened a Review on Polymarket Over Illegal Gambling Concerns

[PostQuantumBTC]

I forgot that gambling is prohibited in South Korea.
Besides, I'm surprised they have such a narrow category for gambling. We've been discussing prediction markets on the gambling (and sub) boards. As I understand it, Polymarket is a free-form betting market and can list any betting topic as long as it has a speculative aspect.

Oh! I now understand the reason South Korea is considering to ban Polymarket. I think they may see Polymarket as a form of gambling and they will later ban it. Most people also do not know much about prediction markets but because they see how it is, they are saying it is gambling. If the countries can see it like that, I guess South Korea government may also see it like that.

[danherbias07]

This is bad news for Polymarket, and they might need to reconsider what industry they really are and prove it to the international laws. With a big market like that, it will start to affect them slowly, as many countries are starting to ban them.

If they are truly a gambling service, then just let it be a gambling service. It will be more acceptable like that than fighting something that is just ruining them. Proving they are a trading platform is doubtful to happen, and they may just be wasting money trying to fight a case that seems not to be going anywhere.

[Botnake]

This is bad news for Polymarket, and they might need to reconsider what industry they really are and prove it to the international laws. With a big market like that, it will start to affect them slowly, as many countries are starting to ban them.

If they are truly a gambling service, then just let it be a gambling service. It will be more acceptable like that than fighting something that is just ruining them. Proving they are a trading platform is doubtful to happen, and they may just be wasting money trying to fight a case that seems not to be going anywhere.

Prediction market does really look like gambling because of the word prediction itself, and laws vary from country to country. So if South Korea sees it that way, then Polymarket has no choice but to comply with the law, or stop operating there, unless they are willing to take the risk of operating illegally.

More countries now seem to dislike Polymarket, but I think that only shows how popular it is becoming. Banning it in some places will not really eliminate it, especially if users still find ways to access it and the platform continues to pay winners.

[shinratensei_]

Polymarket is already defended themselves by said they're not gambling platform that has operator to determine the odds. They argue their odds generated by the participants in the contract. However, i think it makes no sense to have gap between a traditional gambling platform and prediction market. It's because both are literally the same.
So i think they will be banned by South Korean. They is obviously falling under the same regulation as a traditional gambling.  As long as there are participants, house, and odds. I consider it as a gambling platform.

I think they're starting to be banned globally. Let's see what's gonna be their plan to survive.

[noorman0]

This is bad news for Polymarket, and they might need to reconsider what industry they really are and prove it to the international laws. With a big market like that, it will start to affect them slowly, as many countries are starting to ban them.

If they are truly a gambling service, then just let it be a gambling service. It will be more acceptable like that than fighting something that is just ruining them. Proving they are a trading platform is doubtful to happen, and they may just be wasting money trying to fight a case that seems not to be going anywhere.

Governments only view polymarkets from their own perspectives. It's unlikely that polymarkets will have to change their core business models when they're more widely welcomed by other regulations. One country's ban won't eliminate their entire market share.

[YOSHIE]

South Korea Opened a Review on Polymarket Over Illegal Gambling Concerns

It seems that the Polymarket betting prediction site has been discussed endlessly, now South Korea has started to target it again as an illegal gambling site, it looks like this is a long story.

A few days ago Indonesia officially closed the Polymarket site.
Information from the government.

The Indonesian government officially blocked the Polymarket site and platform. The Ministry of Communications and Digital (Komdigi) categorizes the crypto-based prediction market platform as online gambling (judol) because it facilitates betting activities using money on real events.

It seems that Polymarket is currently not doing well, this is a challenge and a tough test for Polymarket owners, that is the risk of creating a gambling site, it is not as beautiful as we expected, the biggest challenge is the government.

[bitbollo]

I would not say they are just banning (because at the end... its not so easy) but probably they would try to "regulate" and to "tax" a second time?
At least in Italy for similar cases (exchange markets) they have just forced operators to open a local version (with a local license...)
There are too big interest to keep illegal such platforms. New can just arise, and in general illegal would not bring a better value

[eaLiTy]

~
It seems that the Polymarket betting prediction site has been discussed endlessly, now South Korea has started to target it again as an illegal gambling site, it looks like this is a long story.

A few days ago Indonesia officially closed the Polymarket site.

The problems keep on arising for Polymarket as discussions among the governments worldwide are increasing by the day, especially since the US Congress officially launched an insider trading investigation into Polymarket and Kalshi. The situation is getting more complicated as these platforms are facing both regulatory hurdles and insider trading accusations involving government and military officials.  

Dozens of long-shot bets on Polymarket, from the war with Iran to the cryptocurrency market, have defied the odds, according to a New York Times examination.

Source :Dozens of Polymarket Bets Show Signs of Insider Trading, The Times Finds

[JeffBrad12]

Governments only view polymarkets from their own perspectives. It's unlikely that polymarkets will have to change their core business models when they're more widely welcomed by other regulations. One country's ban won't eliminate their entire market share.

Poly doesn't even wanna acquire license to operate legally. So it's not right for the government to care about them. It's just a similar case with what happened to polymarket in the previous cases. They're getting banned by operated legally, and they have no intention to acquire license.
It's not fair when they let an illegal platform to operate while they have also legal platforms to be defended. If Poly is serious in getting their business widely adopted, they will do it better by try to acquire licenses in any of banned country. I can't even count how many countries already banned them due to the same reason.

[salad daging]

This is bad news for Polymarket, and they might need to reconsider what industry they really are and prove it to the international laws. With a big market like that, it will start to affect them slowly, as many countries are starting to ban them.

Many other countries will follow suit by banning Polymarket in certain countries and now only a few have revealed it, while with many Polymarket blocked, almost every year its evaluation continues to grow, and can even grow bigger.

There are claims from Polymarket's own representatives that the platform is not gambling, some figures say prediction markets are gambling, so until now there are still many disputes that seem to be complicated will not be resolved in a short time.

[acroman08]

I tried accessing the site with Tor and VPN and was able to do so without any problems, so this notice may only be for informational purposes and is not implemented in practice.

Yeah, I checked it out of curiosity. It seems like it is for informational purposes, like you said, but I'm sure if they found out that a person using their platform is breaking their terms and conditions, that person's account would probably get banned from the platform.

A few days ago Indonesia officially closed the Polymarket site.
Information from the government.

The Indonesian government officially blocked the Polymarket site and platform. The Ministry of Communications and Digital (Komdigi) categorizes the crypto-based prediction market platform as online gambling (judol) because it facilitates betting activities using money on real events.

-snip

Thanks for this! Looks like the countries that banned Polymarket for being a gambling platform have increased again.

[Alphakilo]

This is bad news for Polymarket, and they might need to reconsider what industry they really are and prove it to the international laws. With a big market like that, it will start to affect them slowly, as many countries are starting to ban them.

Many other countries will follow suit by banning Polymarket in certain countries and now only a few have revealed it, while with many Polymarket blocked, almost every year its evaluation continues to grow, and can even grow bigger.

There are claims from Polymarket's own representatives that the platform is not gambling, some figures say prediction markets are gambling, so until now there are still many disputes that seem to be complicated will not be resolved in a short time.

South Korea even came late to the party because countries like India, Indonesia, France, Brazil, Australia, Singapore and some U.S states have either gone ahead to outrightly ban Polymarket or categorize them as unlicensed gambling.
I think that Polymarket don't even care about the categorization because they see themselves as something different and would like to be treated so, both in the eyes of regulatory policies and to the customer base they have created.
Unless they are treated as something else and classified differently, Polymarket wouldn't like to be classified along side slots and poker and instead suffer the ban while being decentralized only to the few customers that know their worth.

[EluguHcman]

it only takes the government of south korea to successfully prosecute, fine or jail a few people who continued to gamble on polymarket, for the rest of gamblers to take note of the risk and completely stop from participating as well.

There is a saying that only the stubborn flies that goes to the grave with the corpse.
In the case of the south korea government prosecuting the couple of violators after the sanctions in the poly markets should of course set as lesson to others who are planning to breach the policy on the ban of the poly market.

It has also been called to notice that those few victims being apprehended and justified by the laes are projected to the public as scapegoats while it is still unverified if they were the only culprits who committed the offense. While it is indicated that others who had the intention to take the step had scampered with others who thought to take the risk also gave up to avoid prosecutions for common gambling activities.

[sunsilk]

Most of the countries will take the same actions and this will lead for them to ask for licensing operations to Polymarket to apply for.

It's all about the money that Polymarket is earning and they're not giving back to the countries where they've got people who they are earning from.

The piece of the pizza that they want to take and when that happens, it's no longer a decentralized prediction market but a simple gambling platform just as the common ones we know.

[suzanne5223]

Looks like another country might ban Polymarket. According to the article, the Korean Communications Standards Commission is reviewing whether Polymarket promotes gambling and breaks Korea's gambling law. They also said that they are doing a detailed review because "Polymarket takes the newer form of a prediction market".

I am guessing that if they found Polymarket does promote gambling, they will ban the prediction in their country, just like how other countries have banned Polymarket after being labelled as a gambling platform.

The list of countries banning prediction markets like Polymarket is increasing. I wonder if they'll ever register as a gambling platform at some point if more countries ban them for violating the gambling laws in those countries.

Gambling is not completely banned in South Korea, but they heavily regulated.
According to my understand they welcome sports betting, and they have land based casino, but I don't fully understand their stance about online gambling, and I believe if Polymarket can comply with their rules, regulations, and authorities actively monitor and prosecute guilty users, there's no reason the prediction market will be ban but with the Polymarket having issues with compliance to gambling rules and regulation of some countries before which is why they are ban in many countries i dont think they will comply with the South Korean rules.

[noorman0]

-snip-
If Poly is serious in getting their business widely adopted, they will do it better by try to acquire licenses in any of banned country. I can't even count how many countries already banned them due to the same reason.

If they decide to obtain a license, they should choose a specific license based on the service category. I don't think they want to be listed as a gambling service, despite general public opinion suggesting otherwise. Some gambling licenses have numerous jurisdictional restrictions that may conflict with Polymarket's target market.

[Lucius]

I tried accessing the site with Tor and VPN and was able to do so without any problems, so this notice may only be for informational purposes and is not implemented in practice.

Yeah, I checked it out of curiosity. It seems like it is for informational purposes, like you said, but I'm sure if they found out that a person using their platform is breaking their terms and conditions, that person's account would probably get banned from the platform.
~snip~

I honestly didn't know that Polymarket was banned in the US, but on the other hand I see that the internet is full of "tips" on how to get around the ban. Many VPN service providers even advertise their products precisely as a way to access Polymarket in case it is banned in a certain country.

In my opinion, the ban is in a gray area and I believe there are many who use "tricks" to avoid it.

[Wakate]

There has been so many complaints about the polymarket and how they are manipulating events to make sure that users that bet on those events lose their money. There is high chances of polymarket getting banned in South Korea because the complaints might have been too much and there is high chances of 60% of users losing their money.

[JeffBrad12]

-snip-
If Poly is serious in getting their business widely adopted, they will do it better by try to acquire licenses in any of banned country. I can't even count how many countries already banned them due to the same reason.

If they decide to obtain a license, they should choose a specific license based on the service category. I don't think they want to be listed as a gambling service, despite general public opinion suggesting otherwise. Some gambling licenses have numerous jurisdictional restrictions that may conflict with Polymarket's target market.

Yeah, that's sure they may be missing their market due to the being classified as a gambling platform. However, it's much better instead of getting more and more countries ban them. So it raises a very serious concern about them to be a public enemy by any of countries in the future. Plenties of countries already have them in their banned list. So more to come.