According to South Korean media ChosunBiz, South Korean police are investigating Korean users of the prediction market platform Polymarket on suspicion of illegal gambling. The Gangwon Provincial Police Agency is carrying out the investigation upon the request of the National Police Agency’s main office, which is the first investigation in South Korea targeting Polymarket’s domestic users. Under South Korea’s current laws, aside from Sports Toto operated by the National Sports Promotion Fund, betting on other gambling platforms is illegal; related users could face a maximum fine of 10 million Korean won under Article 246 of the Criminal Act. The report says Polymarket can currently be accessed without having to circumvent IP, and Korean users can place bets using USD stablecoins. It previously launched predictions related to South Korea’s June 3 local elections, with betting volumes reaching hundreds of billions of Korean won.

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GateUser-176c498f
· 2h ago
How do decentralized platforms manage, arresting a few users to address the symptoms but not the root cause
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BorrowedSun
· 7h ago
Polymarket just opened to Korean IPs and immediately ran into trouble; the timing was spot on.
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CandlewickKid
· 8h ago
Is predicting the market considered gambling? Shouldn't stock futures also be investigated?
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InstantNoodlesWithContracts
· 9h ago
Article 246 has a maximum of 10 million yuan, and the cost of violations doesn't seem to be high either.
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IHateFalseProsperity.
· 9h ago
Hundreds of billions of Korean won in transactions, no wonder the police can't stay still.
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WaitingForConfirmationUnderThe
· 9h ago
Betting with stablecoins is indeed hard to track, but directly catching users is a bit harsh.
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GateUser-9ccf7051
· 9h ago
Sports Toto monopoly itself is a problem
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