Dutch Gambling Regulator Issues Polymarket Penalty Order of Up to €840,000

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The Dutch gambling authority, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has issued an order requiring the cryptocurrency-based prediction market Polymarket to halt operations in the Netherlands or face steep penalties of up to €840,000 (approx. US$990,000).

The penalty order follows a regulatory review in which the KSA concluded that Polymarket, operated by Adventure One QSS, was illegally offering games of chance in the Netherlands. Under Dutch law, prediction markets, also known as betting markets, are considered games of chance and gambling and need to be licensed accordingly.

KSA investigators found that the Netherlands was not listed as an excluded country on the platform and that users with Dutch IP addresses could register, deposit funds, and place bets, including on markets linked to Dutch politics. 

The regulator also cited that payments being routed through Dutch banks and the provision of Dutch-language and local currency support suggested the platform was accessible to Dutch consumers without adequate geo-blocking measures in place.

Polymarket’s defense is quoted in iGB:

Polymarket is a prediction market where users trade positions with each other; pricing and settlement come from market dynamics and protocol contract logic, not from a chance mechanism designed by the operator. The result is not purely chance, but (also) the product of informed decision-making and active trading choices.

The KSA rejected this defense, noting that the platform’s activities constitute illegal gambling, and that some bets offered on the prediction markets like Polymarket, such as those with a potential influence on elections, would not be permitted on the Dutch gambling market under any circumstances.