Bets on the Korean election reached tens of billions of won, triggering the country’s first online gambling case. In early June, many Koreans who had placed election outcome bets on Polymarket received summonses from police to appear as suspects in an online gambling investigation. No one anticipated that predicting election results on a crypto platform would become a criminal case. This is the first of its kind in the country. For the first time, South Korean police have directly pursued users of Polymarket, with the Gangwon Provincial Police leading the case under orders from the National Police Agency. Polymarket is the world’s largest prediction market—essentially a platform where people wager real money on whether future events will result in “heads” or “tails,” all operating on blockchain without intermediaries. The question is: if the platform has no intermediary and requires no ID to register, how did police identify individual users? 🗳️ June 3: The Election Catalyst President Lee Jae-myung’s party won a majority in local elections, while conservative candidate Oh Se-hoon retained his position as Seoul mayor. In the days leading up to the vote, users flooded Polymarket to place bets. Just on the Seoul mayor market alone, trading volume exceeded $52 million—roughly 1.7 billion baht. 👮 Following the Money Trail to Identify Users Although Polymarket has no intermediary, most Koreans funded their bets through domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, all of which require full KYC verification. Police traced the flow of funds from these Korean exchanges to Polymarket, matching transaction amounts and betting frequency to identify individual users and issue summonses accordingly. ⚖️ Charges and Potential Penalties Those implicated face charges under Article 246, which covers gambling and illegal betting. The maximum penalty is a fine of up to 10 million won (approximately 214,000 baht). The Gangwon Police plan to submit their case files to prosecutors with recommendations for indictment upon completion of their investigation. South Korea enforces this strict stance because, by law, the only legal form of betting is Sports Toto—the state-licensed, sole authorized sports betting operator. Everything else is illegal. 🌏 Not Just Korea More than 30 countries currently ban or restrict access to Polymarket, including France, Singapore, Argentina, and Thailand. Taiwan has gone further, arresting 17 individuals for betting on presidential election outcomes. In South Korea, however, Polymarket remains accessible, and media regulators are still evaluating whether to block it. The real victims are not the platform—but individual users who simply wanted to predict the winner. Many assumed that using a decentralized platform meant anonymity, forgetting that the funds they deposited passed through exchanges that already knew their identities. On-chain does not mean off-the-radar. What’s happening in Korea isn’t new—it’s just that this time, authorities are targeting players, not just blocking websites. Opinions within the industry are sharply divided (summarized from overall public sentiment, not direct quotes): One side argues that police have overreached: Polymarket is a tool for gauging market sentiment, not a casino. Why target ordinary citizens who merely predicted election outcomes when the website remains fully accessible?The other side argues that it’s only fair: putting real money on outcomes that haven’t happened yet is gambling—adding blockchain doesn’t change its fundamental nature. South Korea’s gambling laws are strict, and everyone is well aware of this; if you play, you bear the risk yourself. This case is not over—we must wait to see whether prosecutors will formally press charges and whether the court will classify decentralized prediction platforms as gambling. This ruling could set a precedent for many other countries. Stay tuned. For you, is Polymarket a tool for reading the future with real money—or just a gambling den in disguise? ⚠️ This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an invitation to gamble. Using unlicensed gambling platforms may be illegal in certain countries. Please review applicable laws before making any decisions. #BitcoinAddict #Polymarket #PredictionMarket