Gangwon Police Summon Polymarket Users in Illegal Gambling Probe

Users Claim Platform Is Investment, Not Gambling; Legal Challenge Looms

Police have confirmed that they have notified domestic users of the world's largest prediction market platform, Polymarket, to appear for investigation on charges of illegal gambling. Polymarket is classified as an illegal private gambling operation in South Korea. Users argue that applying gambling charges to a prediction market, which they claim is a virtual asset derivatives investment market, is difficult.

On the 8th, according to police, the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency notified Polymarket's domestic users en masse to appear the previous day as part of an ongoing investigation into gambling charges. The investigation targets Polymarket users residing nationwide, including in Gangwon Province. Since launching the first investigation into domestic Polymarket users in June of this year, the police have accelerated their probe.

Polymarket is a blockchain-based prediction market platform where users wager virtual assets on the outcomes of future events in politics, economics, sports, and social issues in the real world.

The Korea Media and Communications Standards Commission resolved on August 18 to request corrective measures (access blocking) against Polymarket, stating that it corresponds to information aimed at aiding gambling and establishing gambling venues under the Criminal Act, as well as "similar acts" under the National Sports Promotion Act.

Under current laws, all betting activities on platforms other than Sports Toto (operated by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, with a betting limit of 100,000 Korean won) are illegal. Domestic Polymarket users could face fines of up to 10 million Korean won under Article 246 of the Criminal Act (gambling and habitual gambling).

Jin Hyunsoo, a virtual asset specialist lawyer at Decent Law Firm, who represents some of the domestic Polymarket users under investigation, stated, "It seems unreasonable to uniformly classify prediction markets, which lack guidelines and do not cause social disorder like actual gambling, as the same category of illegal gambling. There is sufficient room to view prediction markets as virtual asset derivative investments, and we will refute the investigative agency's logic."