Asia has the region's most active prediction-market regulation — a fast-accelerating mix of ISP blocks, regulator warnings, and court cases across at least seven jurisdictions.
South Korea’s Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) postponed deciding whether to demand corrective measures against Polymarket, opting to let the operator respond first. It followed a June 2026 criminal probe by Gangwon provincial police into users who bet on local elections; the Seoul mayoral-race market alone drew tens of millions of dollars in volume.
Source: Bloomingbit
A Hsinchu resident received deferred prosecution after admitting to a roughly NT$227 (about US$7) bet on Polymarket tied to a local election, violating the Public Officials Election and Recall Act’s ban on internet election betting. Prosecutors granted leniency given the person’s clean record and admission; the offense otherwise carries up to six months’ imprisonment or a fine.
Source: Focus Taiwan
The Investor and Financial Education Council (IFEC), a subsidiary of the Securities and Futures Commission, warned that trading on prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi may constitute illegal gambling in Hong Kong. IFEC stressed that participants have no protection under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, since such activity is wagering on probabilities rather than investing.
Source: IFEC (Hong Kong)
Hong Kong’s Home and Youth Affairs Bureau suspended plans to legalize basketball betting — about seven months after the legislature passed the enabling bill — citing the rapid, unregulated growth of global prediction markets. Chief Executive John Lee said the growth of the prediction market was beyond anybody’s expectation and that the government had to assess its impact on Hong Kong’s gambling scene.
Source: news.gov.hk
Legal analysis found Polymarket- and Kalshi-style markets constitute illegal gambling under the Philippine Revised Penal Code, with sole gaming regulator PAGCOR offering no license category for prediction-market operators. Election betting is separately banned under the Omnibus Election Code, and the Philippines has no derivatives framework to reclassify event contracts as financial instruments.
Source: Chambers and Partners
Tokyo-listed mobile-gaming firm gumi, via a subsidiary, announced it has begun considering a prediction-market service using AI and blockchain, aiming for fairness, transparency, and legal compliance. The company cited Polymarket’s 2024 US election forecasting as inspiration and planned demonstration experiments; no launch date was set.
Source: gumi Co., Ltd.
India’s Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) issued a press release cautioning the public against opinion trading platforms — apps that let users trade yes/no outcomes using investment-style terms such as profits and stop loss. SEBI clarified these are not recognized stock exchanges, are not SEBI-registered, and carry no investor-protection coverage.
Source: SEBI
Singapore’s Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) declared Polymarket an unlicensed gambling service and ordered local ISPs to block it, with blocked users shown a message calling it an illegal gambling site. The action rests on the Gambling Control Act 2022; individuals who gamble via unlicensed services face fines up to SGD 10,000 or up to six months in jail. The move followed similar blocks by Taiwan and France.
Source: CoinDesk
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