South Korea looks into Polymarket, suspecting illegal gambling

South Korea has become the latest nation to probe one of the world’s most prominent prediction market platforms over what regulators speculate could be illegal gambling.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission has launched a review into Polymarket, citing possible illegal gambling violations, prompted by complaints. The key argument investigators have leveled against the platform is that it has been localized to South Korea specifically, which could subject it to stricter local laws, as reported originally by Bloomberg. Details about the ongoing investigation are not widely shared, with the probe trying to establish whether the prediction market platform may indeed be tied to local gambling laws. This is not the first time that Polymarket has faced a similar degree of scrutiny worldwide, with multiple other jurisdictions bringing up a similar argument. The platform has experienced regulatory setbacks in multiple other prominent jurisdictions around the world, including Italy, Brazil, Australia, France, and Germany. In the meantime, Polymarket has also been targeted locally in the United States, where an ongoing legal battle rages between stakeholders on both sides of the fault line.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has recently filed a lawsuit against Minnesota, which became the first state in the United States to have officially proceeded with a ban against the sector. The CFTC has also pursued similar legal action against other states across the nation, arguing that they have been trying to preempt its federal authority by subjugating prediction market regulation to local gambling laws. Prediction markets have repeatedly argued that they are not gambling, and that they should be overseen by a financial watchdog instead.