The Short Version
Singapore is the cleanest case in the region: Polymarket is formally banned. On January 12, 2025, the Gambling Regulatory Authority declared Polymarket an illegal gambling site and ordered internet service providers to block access. Polymarket responded at the protocol level by placing Singapore in close-only mode. There is no ambiguity to analyze and no gray zone to navigate - and this page does not offer workarounds, because circumventing the block is an offense under Singapore law and a violation of Polymarket's own terms.
| Question | Status (June 2026) |
|---|---|
| Regulator action | GRA declared Polymarket an illegal gambling site, January 12, 2025 |
| ISP blocking | Ordered - polymarket.com blocked by Singapore ISPs |
| Polymarket protocol status | Close-only: legacy positions resolvable, no new trades or deposits |
| Individual penalty exposure | Up to S$10,000 fine and/or 6 months imprisonment under the Gambling Control Act framework |
The Legal Basis
The GRA acted under the Gambling Control Act 2022 together with the remote-gambling framework. Singapore's design is deliberate: all gambling is prohibited except through the two statutory exemptions - Singapore Pools for lotteries and sports, and the Singapore Turf Club for horse racing. An offshore prediction market has no path into that structure. The Monetary Authority of Singapore's payment-services regime for digital-payment-token providers is irrelevant here; the gambling-side authority took precedence and settled the question.
What Close-Only Means in Practice
Singaporean users who held positions before January 2025 can still close them and withdraw - Polymarket did not confiscate anything. What they cannot do is open new positions or deposit. The platform's geofencing claims to detect VPN use beyond simple IP checks, and its terms of service prohibit circumvention outright. Individual users who route around the ISP block face the Gambling Control Act's penalties of up to S$10,000 in fines and six months of imprisonment.
Why Singapore Acted While Others Watched
Singapore's gambling regime is enforcement-first by tradition, and the GRA moved against Polymarket months before Hong Kong's IFEC issued its softer April 2026 warning. The two episodes bracket the region's range: Singapore banned and blocked; Hong Kong warned and waited. Readers interested in the comparison can see our Hong Kong status page for the other end of the spectrum.
What This Means for Readers
If you are in Singapore, Polymarket is banned, blocked, and close-only, and that is the entire story. Our market coverage remains readable as journalism - prices on US elections, geopolitics, and economics are public information with genuine news value. For Chinese-speaking Singaporeans with family or business ties abroad, the country availability guide covers which jurisdictions remain open.
Primary Sources
- 99Bitcoins - why Singapore banned Polymarket
- Polymarket Docs - Geoblock API reference
- Polymarket Help - Geographic Restrictions
