Singapore Blocks Access to Polymarket Over Gambling Law

Singapore’s gambling regulator has blocked access to Polymarket, a controversial crypto prediction platform under scrutiny for its handling of US election-related bets.

Reports of users being denied access first emerged on Sunday evening, with Alex Zuo, Cobo’s vice president of investments and custody, tweet a screenshot of an official message.

Users trying to access the platform from Singapore will see a warning message from the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA), labeling Polymarket as an “illegal gambling site” operated by an unlicensed operator.

At the time of writing this is still the case, according to a screenshot reviewed by Declutter and confirmed by several sources in Singapore.

Official statements from the GRA or Polymarket have yet to surface. The GRA and Polymarket did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Internal testing shows Polymarket’s front-end accessible via a VPN routed to Singapore servers. A source said this Declutter they still had access to the site, but that was probably because they didn’t work for a major telecom provider in Singapore.

Predicts markets like gambling

The warning from Singapore’s GRA quotes Section 20 of the country’s Gambling Control Act 2022, which threatens fines of up to $10,000 or six months in prison for participating in unlicensed gambling services.

It follows Polymarket’s recent decision to effectively block French users leave the French market in November last year after a trader placed $45 million in bets on Donald Trump’s presidential victory on multiple accounts.

That movement was caused by initial investigations of the French authorities, thus anticipating the latter’s move.

In other jurisdictions, such as the US, regulatory scrutiny of Polymarket has intensified beyond gambling supervision.

Singapore’s move follows the platform’s complex regulatory history, including: $1.4 million settlement with the CFTC in 2022, leading to the blocking of US users.

A FBI raid Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan’s New York apartment in November, which a company spokesperson described at the time as “political retaliation,” has added another layer of controversy.

Last Friday, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said issued a subpoena to Coinbaselooking for customer information related to Polymarket trading.

Despite regulatory challenges, Polymarket’s user base continues to grow. The platform had 349,500 monthly active users in December, up from 293,700 in November. facts from Dune Analytics.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair