South Korean police are investigating domestic users of prediction market platform Polymarket on suspicion of illegal gambling, in what is believed to be the first enforcement action of its kind targeting the platform’s Korean user base.
Gangwon Provincial Police confirmed the investigation on June 5th, telling Chosun Biz it had launched the probe following a referral from the National Police Agency headquarters. Those under investigation are users resident across the country, not limited to Gangwon Province.
Polymarket is legal in the United States but falls under South Korea’s definition of private gambling. Under current law, placing wagers on any betting platform other than Sports Toto — the state-backed service operated by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, which carries a KRW100,000 ($73) betting ceiling — is prohibited. Domestic users found guilty could face fines of up to KRW10 million under Article 246 of the Criminal Act, which covers both gambling and habitual gambling offenses.
An attorney representing some of the users under investigation told Chosun Biz that the constituent elements of a gambling offense appeared to be met, but added that predicting sentencing outcomes was difficult given the absence of any prior domestic case involving Polymarket.
Access to Polymarket does not currently require IP circumvention tools in South Korea. The Korea Communications Standards Commission had previously stated it had not conducted any review of the platform due to an absence of complaints. Polymarket itself imposes no restrictions on Korean users transacting via dollar-denominated stablecoins, a gap that regulators and police appear to have now identified as the primary access mechanism.
The June 3 South Korean local elections featured as a Polymarket betting market, with wagers reportedly running into the hundreds of billions of won.
The investigation marks a shift in enforcement posture in a market that has so far treated prediction platforms as a regulatory grey area. South Korea permits only tightly restricted forms of betting, and the use of cryptocurrency to access offshore platforms has complicated enforcement. The Gangwon probe suggests authorities are now willing to pursue individual users rather than focusing solely on platform-level action.
