Indonesia latest to block Polymarket in a wider gambling crackdown

After Bloomberg reported that South Korea is looking into Polymarket, as part of a broader gambling-related probe, Indonesia has become the latest country to take action against the popular prediction market platform and outright suspend access to it.

Indonesia is cracking down on activities that it deems are gambling, which is illegal in the populous country. While Polymarket argues that its products do not constitute gambling or a game of chance, Indonesia has not taken heed of these arguments. The Communications and Digital Ministry said on Friday, May 22, through an official, Alexander Saber, that Polymarket was classified as an online gambling platform, as originally reported by Reuters. At the end of April, Brazil also moved on to outlaw prediction markets and to clearly define what prediction markets were. Polymarket has not shied away from offering derivatives on events within the country, placing a bet that Prabowo Subianto, the President, would be out of power ahead of his term’s end in 2029. The market opened on May 21, and it could be one of the reasons why Polymarket was finally targeted by the government.

Polymarket is facing pushback across Asia, with China outlawing the platform and South Korea running a probe into its operations. Indonesia has taken a more definitive stance. In the meantime, the platform has made a return to the United States, where it has been expanding its reach on a state-by-state basis. The spread of prediction markets has not been an easy one, with opposition from lawmakers, regulators, and attorneys general mounting. In May, Minnesota became the US’ first jurisdiction to formally issue a ban against the prediction market sector, criminalizing the activity.