Exclusive: South Korea Opens Review of Polymarket Over Illegal Gambling Concerns

Polymarket faces scrutiny as a betting-style prediction market

Regulator examines potential gambling and legal violations

Market growth accelerates as major countries tighten oversight

"There is a possibility it could be pushed out of the Korean market"

This article appeared on the Bloomingbit website at 3:05 p.m. on May 21, 2026.

South Korea’s Korea Communications Standards Commission has opened a review of global prediction-market platform Polymarket. The move is aimed at determining whether the service constitutes an illegal gambling site under domestic law.

A commission official told Bloomingbit by phone on May 21 that a complaint related to Polymarket had recently been filed and the review had begun. The agency is also looking at overseas regulatory cases and assessing whether the platform could be deemed to encourage gambling.

Polymarket is a blockchain-based prediction-market platform where users wager money on the outcome of specific events, including the U.S. presidential election, interest-rate decisions, sports matches and cryptocurrency prices. Users place real-time bets using stablecoins and receive returns based on the actual outcome.

Polymarket remains accessible in South Korea without significant restrictions and offers a Korean-language service. Even if a platform operates on overseas servers, it can still fall under the commission’s oversight if it supports Korean and targets users in the country.

The legal review is likely to require extra caution because, unlike conventional illegal gambling sites, Polymarket takes the newer form of a prediction market. The commission official said the platform differs from a typical gambling site and therefore requires a detailed review. Even so, it could still be viewed as a new type of gambling-related site, the official said.

The market for such prediction platforms is expanding rapidly. According to Bernstein, global prediction-market trading volume tripled from a year earlier to $51 billion last year. The market is forecast to grow to $240 billion this year, maintain annual growth of 80% and reach $1 trillion by 2030.

As the market has grown, regulators around the world have stepped up their response. The concern is that prediction markets sit uneasily on the line between financial investment and speculative gambling. France, Germany, Italy, India, Brazil, Ukraine, Australia and Argentina have already classified Polymarket as an illegal gambling site and blocked access entirely.

Pressure is also building in the US. State governments including Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nevada have determined that sports-event contracts on prediction-market platforms violate gambling laws, leading to cease-and-desist orders or lawsuits.

Industry participants say the commission’s review could result in tougher measures in South Korea, including blocking access to Polymarket. Jin Hyun-soo, managing partner at Decent Law Firm, told Bloomingbit that access could be blocked under the authority of the Korea Communications Standards Commission if Polymarket provides Korean-language services or conducts business in South Korea. If the company continues operating without reviewing domestic regulations, it could effectively be forced out of the Korean market, he added.