Polymarket to clamp down on VPN use

Customers from jurisdictions that consider prediction markets a form of gambling will no longer be able to use Virtual Private Networks.

Leading prediction market operator Polymarket has started clamping down on Virtual Private Network (VPN) use on the platform. 

IP addresses tied to VPN services are being blocked, and users are being asked to verify their identities. 

This is due to growing legal action mounting up outside of the United States. While the USA has a very liberal attitude towards prediction markets, to the point where they consider them a financial product rather than a gambling operation, most other countries do not. 

Customers outside the United States have been using VPN services in an attempt to wager on the platforms when their country of origin prohibits it. 

An attempt to avoid legal issues

More than 30 countries have restricted or banned prediction markets. Most recently, Spain and Brazil. Argentina also banned them earlier this year, and the United Kingdom revealed that they classify prediction markets as gambling, not financial products. 

Polymarket's decision to ban the use of VPNs is an attempt to avoid severe regulatory action from these jurisdictions that don't look on prediction markets as favourably as the US does. 

This also comes at a time when VPNs themselves are facing global crackdowns. The United Kingdom is considering a VPN ban for children, and the state of Utah has banned VPNs to visit porn sites, which comes into effect in September.