Indonesia blocks Polymarket after bets on president’s exit

[Fortify]

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) announced the block on Friday, describing Polymarket as an “online gambling site disguised as a prediction market.

Yiu can read about it on https://cointelegraph.com/news/indonesia-blocks-polymarket-bets-presidents-exit

Is there any topic about this? The last I remember was South Korea after I brother India.

I guess more countries will ban Polymarket.

But will people in these countries will not continue to use the site because it has no KYC?

It's inevitable that these sites will be banned, as they are effectively gambling under another name and they don't really accept that either. KYC is almost irrelevant, the reason they are getting banned it because of things like economic and political trades, the latter of which you'll already find are quite common on betting sites. A lot of these trades can also be quite embarrassing to governments that don't take criticism very well, like the downfall of their leaders or highlighting scandals. Ultimately Indonesia is quite a religious country and Islam is not traditionally supportive of gambling - it's banned in many other places like the Middle East too.

[Alphakilo]

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) announced the block on Friday, describing Polymarket as an “online gambling site disguised as a prediction market.

Yiu can read about it on https://cointelegraph.com/news/indonesia-blocks-polymarket-bets-presidents-exit

Is there any topic about this? The last I remember was South Korea after I brother India.

I guess more countries will ban Polymarket.

But will people in these countries will not continue to use the site because it has no KYC?

It's inevitable that these sites will be banned, as they are effectively gambling under another name and they don't really accept that either. KYC is almost irrelevant, the reason they are getting banned it because of things like economic and political trades, the latter of which you'll already find are quite common on betting sites. A lot of these trades can also be quite embarrassing to governments that don't take criticism very well, like the downfall of their leaders or highlighting scandals. Ultimately Indonesia is quite a religious country and Islam is not traditionally supportive of gambling - it's banned in many other places like the Middle East too.

Some countries have long banned Polymarket, Indonesia ain't the first.
Just like you said, the Polymarket don't want to be classified as casino games gambling and be subject to the regulations governing this niche. They prefer to be called something else, as they already are and would instead prefer new regulations are made that makes them different from casino  games kind of gambling.
One thing why people use it still is because it is decentralized and why people hate it so much is because they think it is highly influenced by insider information.

[Davidvictorson]

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) announced the block on Friday, describing Polymarket as an “online gambling site disguised as a prediction market.

I think this is a good move. Polymarket should be come out and clarify what exactly they so that governments will not continue to ban them or take them to court.

I guess more countries will ban Polymarket.

Absolutely, that is what is going to happen eventually if they do not act fast.

But will people in these countries will not continue to use the site because it has no KYC?

They will but it is up to the government to enforce the ban by restricting their domain or something.

[acroman08]

The US law might not recognise it as online gambling but for me it is.

While the whole of the US hasn't deemed Polymarket as a gambling platform, there are states in the US that have already deemed Polymarket as a gambling platform and have blocked Polymarket in their states. Also, I just checked, and it looks like Minnesota also just issued a ban on prediction markets, but the ban will take effect in August.

[Hispo]

I guess it was just a matter of time before Polymarket got banned from more countries within the developing world / third world. In this case, It seems the reason was rather political and did not has as much to do with actual regulation and concern about the economical well-being of people in Indonesia.
Anyways... People from that country and other countries where this site has been banned will continue to access thanks to the use of VNP and other tools which bypass this kind of restrictions, assuming their really they want to continue to bet on those markets, that is.

At this pace, I would not be surprised other countries in South Asia also joined India, Brazil, Korea and Indonesia in this wave of bans against Polymarket.

[tread93]

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) announced the block on Friday, describing Polymarket as an “online gambling site disguised as a prediction market.

Yiu can read about it on https://cointelegraph.com/news/indonesia-blocks-polymarket-bets-presidents-exit

Is there any topic about this? The last I remember was South Korea after I brother India.

I guess more countries will ban Polymarket.

But will people in these countries will not continue to use the site because it has no KYC?

Im sure they will continue using the site however they want to through the VPNs and other measures it never seemed to stop people in the states that is until KYC kicks in

[jcojci]

The government blocked Poly after they gave a prediction about the Indonesian President. The government doesn't like Poly doing that so they say the block and describe Poly like that.

More countries will ban Polymarket if they gives a prediction about the country's government. People will not stop betting on the site they see the potential of making money on that site.

I wonder what Polymarket will do next and what prediction that makes controversial.

[Dave1]

The government blocked Poly after they gave a prediction about the Indonesian President. The government doesn't like Poly doing that so they say the block and describe Poly like that.

More countries will ban Polymarket if they gives a prediction about the country's government. People will not stop betting on the site they see the potential of making money on that site.

I wonder what Polymarket will do next and what prediction that makes controversial.

And as what we have seen already, many countries are starting to block Polymarket. It's because this prediction market is really very different as it covers everything including political events like in this news.

Everything is controversial right now in Polymarket, but I guess that their hype and gamblers can't keep up their hands on those kind of predictions although the world of Poly is getting smaller, but I think there will be no stopping anytime soon from gamblers to continue their bet on this platform because it's easy to make money thru market manipulation and insider information.

[red4slash]

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) announced the block on Friday, describing Polymarket as an “online gambling site disguised as a prediction market.

The government has the power and indeed the prediction market about this president is so crowded on social media in my country that it seems like the government is quite furious about it because it is considered to hurt the current regime so I am not surprised about this blocking.

It's like the government in my country doesn't want to accept aspirations and when something extreme like this happens, they will try to shut it down immediately because they don't want to show the destruction to the public even though consciously or not it is already visible.
I'm actually happy that there are things that smack of treason like this to make the government in my country realize that there are a lot of awkward things that they are doing but when they shut this down directly in the end it's not solving the problem but showing their authority that cannot be challenged and that's what will make them collapse slowly.
I'm not saying that I'm anti-government but there are a lot of things that I think are wrong but it's just because there are a lot of corrupt officials in this country.

[Ryu_Ar1]

Does blocking polymarket solve the issue, are they actually after prediction market or gambling itself, I also don't see a reason why they should assume that prediction market is the same as gambling, you have to come on the right perspective regarding this issue and face the reality on what they needed to do about pulling markets and not gambling, I'm not against them blocking polymarket, but this shouldn't be treated the same way as gambling.

They do not want to solve the problem but want to close all access so that people in Indonesia do not voice what they want to say especially about this polymarket so viral in X even trending in our country.

The pretext is simple because they will consider all forms of gambling illegal so that pollymarket will not be able to escape from blocking but actually this is not just about gambling problems but they the government wants to secure themselves so that when there are things that will complicate them in the future they will close access to it as tightly as possible.
Because what they are concerned about is not gambling but predictions about the president's exit which is their main focus because of course they will secure power as well as possible especially now that the existing regime has only been in office for about 2 years or less.

[batang_bitcoin]

I guess more countries will ban Polymarket.

That is for sure coming onto those platforms that have prediction markets and they're calling into that name but an actual gambling/sports book.

But will people in these countries will not continue to use the site because it has no KYC?

We don't know, they might. For as long as they're allowed by the platform, they'll continue to use it with the use of VPNs. That's how it will be for the avid users of Polymarket in that country. There's always a way for them to access it if they want to continue using them.

[LordShanken]

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) announced the block on Friday, describing Polymarket as an “online gambling site disguised as a prediction market.

Yiu can read about it on https://cointelegraph.com/news/indonesia-blocks-polymarket-bets-presidents-exit

Is there any topic about this? The last I remember was South Korea after I brother India.

I guess more countries will ban Polymarket.

But will people in these countries will not continue to use the site because it has no KYC?

Indonesia's ban on Polymarket is part of a clear global trend. With South Korea and over 30 other countries already restrict it down, more nations will likely classify prediction markets as illegal gambling. Even without strict KYC, aggressive geoblocking will heavily block access for casual users around the world. It is already happening.

I think that if someone wants to, they will find a way to simply play somewhere else, for example using a VPN. It's just a matter of willingness, asking ChatGPT and a bit of time so that these government bans don't make any sense.

[TedMosby]

-snip-

But will people in these countries will not continue to use the site because it has no KYC?

Hi, an Indonesian here. My personal answer is no, I will not stop using sites that I regularly use just because they are blocked by my country.

The system is rigged here. The government lacks competence in every sector it has. If you think they blocked it due to their viewpoint of seeing Polymarket as an online gambling site, it's totally wrong because the number of online gambling sites that are still accessible in my country is numerous.

Most of them are also widely promoted on social media, and the government only takes minimal action to handle the growth. It's already publicly known that the government here, especially the police, receive payments from the owners of online gambling sites operating in Indonesia.

Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs of Indonesia has many scandals and has caused many problems in my country. For example, dozens of its employees were involved in protecting gambling sites. They abused their authority. Instead of blocking them, they maintained and protected thousands of online gambling sites for personal financial gain. Some other staff members and the previous minister were also involved in several major corruption cases before.

[Alpha Marine]

But will people in these countries will not continue to use the site because it has no KYC?

There was a post recently here that showed how much money unregulated gambling generates relative to regulated gambling, and the difference was really significant. Banning it won't stop people from gambling, except that the site is not available at all in those countries. People would still use VPN despite Polymarket being against it. As long as there is a chance to make money, people will always find a way. Plus, betting on Polymarket is fun. You get to bet on real-life events, not just sports.
I believe that the prediction markets would finally agree that they are gambling sites because, one way or the other, the states would make laws that would require a gambling license before they can do business.

[Ishicryptic]

It will be better for players to stay away from this market if they don't want to lose their money.
There has been so many complaints from different countries on how the polymarket has been extorting money from gamblers in the name of prediction which are often manipulated to make for themselves. It is very hard to become profitable from this market except you got an insider information of what will happen soon in politics.

Insider tradings are very pronounced in the prediction market, you will see the sequence of tradings on a particular event and the huge amounts that are pumped in especially government related and you will know that a lot of manipulations are going on. But I don't think that this is the major reason why these governments are banning prediction market in their countries, the major reason must be regulation related. Governments are more interested about taking their own shares from the prediction sites and being in control about how the market is run in their country. Think about it gambling is regulated in countries and there are addicts in the same countries so banning prediction market is not really about addiction.

[fruktik]

It will be better for players to stay away from this market if they don't want to lose their money.
There has been so many complaints from different countries on how the polymarket has been extorting money from gamblers in the name of prediction which are often manipulated to make for themselves. It is very hard to become profitable from this market except you got an insider information of what will happen soon in politics.

I've looked at this site many times, but somehow I've never felt the urge to bet on it. I've also read that people are constantly losing money. Even large sums are left behind. So, it's absolutely right that they blocked it. All other countries should do the same. This site should be blacklisted everywhere. I'm categorically against it existing in its current form. In my opinion, it's simply a scam for users who, in their pursuit of quick and easy money, don't realize what they're doing.

[EluguHcman]

According to the trends, countries that on-line gambling strictly regulated and prohibiting gambling activities seems to be banning poly markets for no just genuine cause.

The government of the Indonesia now bans the poly market in her country just after the event on the possibilities of the presidency exit before his tenure wraps up, hello... That is senseless after all betting on the political activities has been part of the events featured (hosted) for players to bet on in the poly market. I don't understand why this one will cause an alarm of the government taking the step of the ban.

Well i see there as strategy of these countries just intending to totally ban anything betting and prediction markets.

[bhadz]

Online gambling is a lot in my country and so if the agency that's tasked to know all of these foreign platforms are also getting a huge market inside our country, the next might be my country - the Philippines. We've got a lot of locally licensed gambling platforms here and polymarket is categorically one of them. As I am seeing a lot of ads from Polymarket on my feed. It means that they're also targeting my countrymen to use them to predict/gamble into theirs. I won't be surprised if they'll also be called out or there's an actual decision to come out to be the next country to block them.

[mu_enrico]

For those who want to bet: https://polymarket.com/id/event/prabowo-subianto-out-as-president-of-indonesia-by
You're welcome

Anyway, gambling is strictly prohibited in Indonesia, so it doesn't matter whether or not the event is present. It just accelerates the blocking.

[Cointxz]

For those who want to bet: https://polymarket.com/id/event/prabowo-subianto-out-as-president-of-indonesia-by
You're welcome

Anyway, gambling is strictly prohibited in Indonesia, so it doesn't matter whether or not the event is present. It just accelerates the blocking.

Haha. Do Indonesia has strict implementation of their ban on casino? Because in my country, Government just ban it through ISP but everything is accessible with VPN and DNS without any follow up check from our government to monitor this unregulated casino or exchange since the penalty for breaking it is not that serious.

Polymarket hiding in the exchange cover is already backfiring them since the fact that they are truly gambling can’t be hidden with this kind of betting offer.